To Find a Way Volume II
by Professor McGonagal
Summary: Rachel Belby's first year at Hogwarts hardly went as planned, but after an uncomfortable summer at home she is looking forward to returning to the castle. But between the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and the secrets of those around her, another challenging year lies ahead. Sequel to 'To Find a Way'. Please read, enjoy and review! :)
1. Chapter 1: Summer Holidays

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter.**

 **To Find a Way: Volume II**

 **Chapter 1: Summer Holidays**

 _Click._

Twelve-year-old Rachel Belby exhaled with relief, leaning back against her bedroom door as she closed it behind her after yet another very uncomfortable family dinner. She and her older brother, Marcus, had been home from Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the summer holidays for a little over a month, and for Rachel, at least, the holidays hadn't been much fun.

Having been Sorted into Slytherin at the start of her first year at Hogwarts last year, Rachel was the first Belby in her family to be sorted outside of Ravenclaw in two hundred and fifty years; and so house proud was her family that ever since her Sorting, she had been ostracised by her parents; her Grandmother; Aunt, Uncle and cousin- everyone in her family aside from her brother and the family's house elf, Ceesy. Even her best friends from her childhood, Lisa Turpin and Terry Boot- who also lived across the street from her- had turned against her; claiming that because her being Sorted into Slytherin was so unexpected they didn't know who she really was, and refused to believe her when she tried to convince them she was the same person she'd always been; something she herself only started to believe after talking to the portrait of Merlin that hung in the Slytherin common room. Marcus, for his part- though, like Rachel, he had been raised with the mindset that Ravenclaw was the best house, that for the Belby family that being in any other House was unacceptable, that being in Ravenclaw was key to being a member of the Belby family- approached Rachel the morning after her Sorting to tell her that he was going to stand by her. With her new mindset and the support of her brother and his best friend, Oliver- Terry Boot's older brother who trusted Marcus's judgment- Rachel commenced an ongoing endeavor to find a way to make her life happy and achieve her goal of becoming Minister for Magic; the plan she for which having relied upon her being Sorted into Ravenclaw. She made friends with the other girls in her dormitory and had become close friends with Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, adjusted her twelve step plan to become Minister or Magic to accommodate her being Sorted into Slytherin and tried not to get too upset by the curt, impersonal nature of the correspondence she received from her parents.

The latter, however, was easier said than done. Whatever hope Rachel had that her parents' attitude towards her would be altered by her coming third in her year overall in exams died the very first night of the summer holidays, at the very first family dinner. Rachel was already feeling rather isolated- her mother had not said a word to her all the way home from Kings' Cross, instead asking Marcus questions about his exam results and the electives he had chosen for his third year, and completely ignoring the attempt Marcus made to draw Rachel into the conversation with the fact that she had come third in her year overall. Rachel got some reprieve from the isolation she felt when the family's House-Elf, Ceesy, greeted her with just as bright a bream as she did Marcus upon their walking through the front door; but the respite did not last long- when her father Flavius got home from work at the ministry, the feeling of isolation, and his only interaction with Rachel had been a brief, curt "Hello," in response to her slightly nervous greeting and adopted a similar stance to his wife, ignoring Rachel completely and smiling at Marcus the family sat down at the dining table for dinner.

"So, Marcus," he began, flicking his brown hair from his eyes, "how did your studies go this term?"

Marcus swallowed a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "Good," he replied. "I chose my electives for next year- Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures- and topped my year."

"That's fantastic!" Flavius beamed, "Well done."

Marcus smiled back. "Thanks."

"What made you chose those electives?" Flavius asked.

Marcus's brow furrowed slightly, "They looked very interesting on the leaflets we were given- and I've always been interested in creatures, as you know," he replied; adding after a moment; "Rachel did really well this year, too- she came third in her year overall."

Flavius swallowed a mouthful of Elderflower wine. "You know, I have a few books on Arithmancy in my study," he said, "you can have them to read over the holidays- get a head start?"

Rachel's spirits plummeted further, and she lowered her fork down onto her plate- her throat tightening uncomfortably as the the small flame of hope she had held that her exam results would somewhat improve matters with her parents was abruptly completely extinguished.

Marcus visibly hesitated. "…No, thank you," he replied firmly, after a moment. "I'll be fine."

Flavius shrugged nonchalantly, clearly noticing nothing out of the ordinary. "Okay," he replied, "I take it you didn't get called in, today, Sue?" he turned to his wife.

"No- it seems the hooligans of our society managed to keep the number of oblivions needed to a minimum," Susanne replied, "I did have tea with Sophia this morning, though- she said Mary has done brilliantly at school this year; so we've definitely got another Ravenclaw in the making."

"That's wonderful!" Flavius smiled.

"That's what I said." Susanne nodded her agreement, smiling too. Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat, feeling very out of place indeed as her mother went on, "Sophia's been reading Gilderoy Lockhart recently- his next work is coming out, soon, you know- she leant me her copy of _Travels with Trolls_ , and it's really very interesting. You should read it, Marcus- seeing as you like creatures, I think you'll enjoy it."

"I'll think about it," Marcus replied, spearing a carrot with his fork.

"Lockhart- didn't he get captured by trolls a few years ago?" Flavius asked.

"Yes, he mentions it in the preface," Susanne said, "He was a few years below us at Hogwarts, remember? I remember he was clever but he never seemed particularly popular- I suppose he grew up, similar to James Potter; though, of course, Potter had and maintained his popularity."

"Yes," Flavius nodded reflectively, "Lockhart always seemed rather arrogant to me, but certainly he had brains…"

Rachel's parents continued to discuss Gilderoy Lockhart and his intellectual prowess for the rest of the meal, but Rachel did not hear any of it- she was too busy trying not to dissolve into tears. So much time had passed since she had last seen or had any communication with her parents that their attitude towards her stung as it had done when it was new. The split second the meal was over, she got to her feet and said goodnight, adding at she was tired- words that were completely ignored by her parents. Willing herself not to break down then and there, Rachel turned and hurried from the dining room, opening her bedroom door, entering the room, closing the door behind her again and collapsing onto her bed. Moments later, however, the door opened again and Marcus looked it.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, advancing into the room.

"Close the door," Rachel reminded him, sniffing slightly in an effort to control her emotions for a little longer, sitting up, "You know one of the rules that came with my redecorating is that I'm not allowed to have it any more open than ajar."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Marcus apologised, going back and closing the door. "Are you okay?" he repeated gently, crossing the room and sitting down on the side of her bed, "Mum and Dad- that stuff before they started raving on about Gilderoy Lockhart was…" he trailed off, searching for the right word.

"…Normal." Rachel finished the sentence for him after a moment, everything that had happened between her and her parents since she had returned home for the summer and their implications for the future finally sinking in.

Marcus stared at her. "What?"

"Normal," Rachel repeated, moving around to sit beside him on the side of the bed. "It was horrible, but whether we- I- you- like it or not it's what's normal now. Mum and Dad- they're never going to accept me. They've had months- an entire school year to get used to my being in Slytherin; to think; to come around and yet they still treat me like something they'd rather forget existed- I'm not even allowed to have my bedroom door any more open than ajar for Merlin's sake! I've written to them; we've both tried talking to them; I even worked that extra bit harder at school come third in my year, hoping that that would make them change their minds and see that it doesn't really matter that I'm not in Ravenclaw and nothing worked! I-it's always going to be like this now; n-nothing's going to c-change!" Despite her coming to terms with what her interactions with her parents that day meant for the future, Rachel couldn't keep her voice from trembling; nor could she stop her upset at the realisations from overtaking her and she dissolved into tears.

Marcus slipped his arm around her shoulders comfortingly, reaching out and pulling a tissue from the box on Rachel's bedside table and handing it to her. "You've still got me," he said gently, squeezing her shoulder as she took it with a watering smile of thanks and blew her nose. "You and I- we're sticking together, remember? Dad can keep his stupid Arithmancy books- and Mum her Gilderoy Lockhart."

"W-what?" Rachel stammered, looking up and staring at him in alarm. "You said no to those books because of me? Y-you shouldn't have done that- I mean, I appreciate you standing by me, I do, but those books could really help you!"

"I don't want their help." Marcus replied firmly. "Look, don't put me on your conscience, Rachel- Mum and Dad's attitude towards you isn't the only reason I said no. If I'm going to be good at Arithmancy- or any subject for that matter, but especially my electives- I want to be so on my own merit; with the same resources available to everyone else, but my own brains, you know?"

"Yeah," Rachel nodded slowly, taking off her glasses and wiping her eyes, managing to regain her composure as she cleaned her glasses. "…I get that."

Marcus looked at her as she slid her freshly-cleaned glasses back on and sighed, squeezing her shoulder again. "Everything's going to be alright," he said gently, but something in his tone told Rachel that Marcus didn't entirely believe his own words. "You'll see."

Sighing, Rachel pulled herself from her thoughts, detaching herself from her bedroom door and crossing her bedroom, flopping down on her bed and pulling her leather-bound notebook and the quill she had been using recently towards her to record her thoughts.

Though things between her and her parents hadn't been at all pleasant, with them blatantly ignoring her as much as they could, it was not as though her summer had been entirely horrible. Rachel was no longer friends with Terry- indeed, they took to ignored each other whenever their paths crossed- but she had fun spending some time with Marcus and Oliver, but not wanting to cling onto her older brother like an annoying little sister- and with Marcus spending a fair few days by himself, saying that Oliver had gone to visit his mother in St. Mungos's- Rachel spent some time learnig to cook from her family's House-Elf, Ceesy, though Ceesy insisted on doing all the cleaning up herself, claiming it was as mark of a good House-Elf. Aside from this, Rachel spent a great deal of time by herself, working steadily through her holiday homework; spending some time reading the storybooks in the Muggle library at the square about a fifteen walk from her home, which she found highly amusing, as they were so different from the wizarding stories she had grown up with; window shopping in the small shops and the bakery _, Crumbs and Bites Bakery_ , that lined the square around the library, and taking refuge from the heat in the air conditioning of the small café, _Sugar-Free Sensations Tearoom_ , that stood beside _Granger Dental Practice_ , on the corner of the square. While at the head of the square, in the library, she sometimes exchanged courteous nods with Hermione Granger, whose parents Rachel presumed owned the dental practice- whatever that was-, but had no further communication with the girl. Slytherins and Gryffindors were not friends, and indeed, distrusted each other, on principle; but the reason was more so that Granger spent some time in the company of Terry, who Rachel had no desire to interact with. She did, however, correspond with Pansy and Millicent every so often via owl- Pansy was visiting her older sister in France; and Millicent was spending an awful lot of time playing Quidditch on the Nimbus 2000 her father bought her the previous year; in the hope of successfully trying out for the team in the new school year.

Rachel kept her parents' treatment of her out of her own letters, wanting to keep them as cheerful as she could; saving any written mention of her parents for her leather-bound notebook, which was privy to her innermost thoughts and feelings- everything from her ambitions to her exam study plans; her first shopping trip to Diagon Alley as a Hogwarts student; her thoughts on being Sorted outside of Ravenclaw; her conversation with the portrait of Merlin in the Slytherin common room on the first day of her first year and how it it changed her attitude; her fight with Terry and Lisa Turpin and her thoughts on giving up on their friendship; to her opinions on those she disliked, and the attitude of her family towards her since her Sorting.

It was her family that was the topic of her writings that evening. Her parents had invited Flavius's mother, Elspeth; her mother's sister Sophia, her husband Elijah and their ten-year-old daughter Mary round for dinner that evening, the third of August, to celebrate both her and Flavius's birthdays, which occurred within a few days of each other on the first and third of August respectively. It was the first time the entire family- with the exception of Flavius's older brother Damocles, but then again, they never saw him- had been together since the start of the summer holidays, and for Rachel, at least, the dinner had been very unpleasant indeed. Her parents ignored her as usual; her grandmother Elspeth, too, ignored her completely, as she had ever since Rachel had been Sorted; and her aunt and uncle seemed to have hardened somewhat in their viewpoint of her for they, too, ignored her, though every now and then Rachel saw her Aunt glance at her, as though disappointed or wishing she was not there. Mary, on the contrary, took to discussing her academic achievements that year at the Muggle school she attended, and smiling smugly at Rachel as praises echoed all around the table from the adults in the room.

"So I'm sure _I'm_ destined for Ravenclaw," she said, "Especially as I've been asked to tutor the younger students in my last year at the school next year."

"Oh of course, Mary dear," Elspeth beamed at her. "I'm sure your grandmother would be very proud of you, as we all are."

"I wouldn't be so sure of your Ravenclaw destiny, you know, Mary," Marcus cleared his throat as Mary smiled, her eyes darting towards Rachel to make sure she was listening. "You're really being very modest about all this- that sounds like a Hufflepuff in the making to me."

Rachel snorted into her desert, shooting Marcus a grateful look as Mary scowled heavily and Susanne glared at him reproachfully.

"Don't be silly Marcus," she said. "Of course Mary is destined for Ravenclaw- _she_ is an open book."

Rachel flinched as she reached this point and finished writing about the meal and her final thoughts on it- her extended family had gone home not long after that, Mary smirking smugly. Rachel had spent the rest of dessert staring at her half-eaten apply pie, her appetite gone, while Marcus had stared at their mother as though he could hardly believe his ears. Once her family had left, Rachel muttered to Marcus that everything was fine, said goodnight, and hurried upstairs to collect herself. It took some effort to stop herself from crying, instead ridding herself of her emotions by concentrating on getting ready for bed and recording the evening and her thoughts in her notebook. The special emphasis her mother had placed on the word 'she' was clearly designed to reiterate her belief that Rachel had manipulating Marcus into sticking by her after her Sorting; that he, like the rest of the family should disassociate himself from her, as, aside from the fact that being Ravenclaw was simply not acceptable, clearly, they did not know who she really was. The fact that she reiterated the point in from of the whole family had only added salt to the wound.

Exhaling, Rachel read over her writings about and comforted by the fact that though she couldn't help from feeling hurt and upset, she no longer felt as much like bursting into tears, set her book and quill on her bedside table, switching off her bedside lamp and taking off her glasses and setting them down, too, before settling down in her bed and closing her eyes. The evening had been far from fun, yes, but tomorrow was another, and hopefully much happier, day.

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Letters and Lies

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter. The** _ **bold, italic, underline text**_ **are direct quotes from the** _ **Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban**_ **and** _ **Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets**_ **books respectively.**

 **A/N: Enormous thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouring and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

 **Twitter: Prof_McGonagal**

 **Chapter 2: Letters and Lies**

 _Exhaling, Rachel read over her writings about and comforted by the fact that though she couldn't help from feeling hurt and upset, she no longer felt as much like bursting into tears, set her book and quill on her bedside table, switching off her bedside lamp and taking off her glasses and setting them down, too, before settling down in her bed and closing her eyes. The evening had been far from fun, yes, but tomorrow was another, and hopefully much happier, day._

Rachel got up very early the next morning, showered and dressed quickly, and then stayed in her bedroom for a great deal of time longer than she would normally do the following day; wanting to make sure her parents had left for work before she went downstairs. To her surprise, upon opening her bedroom door at half-past ten, Rachel found Marcus emerging from his own room, fully dressed as she was, looking about cautiously.

"Morning." She said.

"Good morning," Marcus replied, falling into step beside her as she made her way down the stairs. "Have you seen Mum or Dad this morning?"

"No- I've been trying to avoid them this morning, actually."

"Yeah, me too," Marcus ran a hand through his hair. "After you went to bed I had a bit of a row with Mum."

"Oh, Marcus, you didn't!" Rachel cried, sighing in exasperation as Marcus nodded sheepishly, "I appreciate you sticking up for me, I do, but thought we agreed that one of us should have a good relationship with Mum and Dad."

"I know, but well, it wasn't a row as such," Marcus said, "I told her that however she may feel about you, it was really low of her to make a snarky comment like that in front of everyone just to try and put me in my place- then went upstairs to bed. I couldn't help it- what she said last night about Mary being an open book- the way she said it and in front of everyone, too, it just wasn't right."

"Good morning Master Marcus; Mistress Rachel," Ceesy greeted the two, as they entered the dining room, apparating the room after them with a loud _CRACK!_

"Morning Ceesy," they replied.

"Are Mum and Dad in?" Marcus added.

"No, sir- they both left for the Ministry at seven-thirty this morning," Ceesy replied, shaking her head. "What would the two of yous like for breakfast?"

"Er… how about egg on toast; and pumpkin juice?" Marcus asked, looking at Rachel.

"Sure," Rachel shrugged, sitting down at the table, "Thank you, Ceesy." She added, smiling.

"Yes, thank you." Marcus agreed as he sat down, smiling, too.

Ceesy smiled back, curtseying as she left the room, "You is welcome Master; Miss."

Marcus and Rachel had only just finished eating when the doorbell echoed through the house. Pausing, they looked at each other.

"Who could that be?" Rachel wondered aloud as Ceesy passed the dining room to open the door; there was no chance of it being a Muggle, she knew, for her mother had placed a couple of charms on the front path that lead up to the door to deter Muggles from approaching; one that made them suddenly forget about whatever business they thought they had in approaching their house and another that made them believe that they had something to attend to elsewhere.

"Master Marcus," "Oliver Boot is here- he wants to see you."

"Er," Marcus hesitated. "…Sure," he said after a moment, draining the last of his pumpkin juice, getting to his feet and following Ceesy from the dining room, leaving the door open.

"Hey," Rachel heard him say as he entered the foyer.

"Hi," Oliver replied, "Look, have I done something to offend you, or something? I feel like you've been avoiding me for months."

"No I haven't," Marcus replied, though he did not sound entirely convincing. "We've hung out this summer."

"Yeah, but sparingly," Oliver pointed out, "you've cancelled our plans at least once a week every week of the and you were avoiding me before exams, too- you can't deny that."

"I-I got a bit caught up with studying- and you know what it's like between Rachel and my parents- I've had to, you know, be a bit of a moderator…"

Rachel frowned into her almost-empty glass of pumpkin juice. This did not quite ring true. Certainly, Marcus had tried to bring her into conversation with their parents'; comforted her after her parent's actions and stuck up for her; but she would hardly say he had acted as a _moderator_ … and the only reason she had ever heard for Marcus not hanging out with Oliver was that the latter had to go and visit his Mother in St Mungo's- why would he conceal- or never mention- the fact that he had decided to cancel plans and have some time to himself?

"…Look, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel as though you'd done something wrong," Marcus went on. "…You know, we never did get that dragon skeleton Rachel got me for Christmas last year to fly as high as it said it would on the box; and the neighbours behind my house and on the next part of the street will be at work and the kids at other's houses, and Edith Dawson next door is away, so if you want, we could go out into the back garden and fly it."

"…Okay," Oliver agreed and after a moment, Marcus poked his head back into the dining room.

"I'm going out into the back garden for a bit with Oliver."

"That's fine," Rachel shrugged, smiling back. "…Remind me- when exactly have you acted as a moderator? Recently, I mean."

Marcus flushed bright red. "Oh, you know," he mumbled evasively and rather defensively, Rachel thought, ducking out of the room.

Rachel raised an eyebrow after him, perplexed. Why Marcus would lie to Oliver in the first place, never mind avoid giving her a straight answer, she really had no idea…setting the matter aside for later thought, Rachel drained the last of her pumpkin juice and stood up, gathering up the plates, cutlery and glasses she and Marcus had used and carrying them into the kitchen, the thud of Marcus and Oliver racing upstairs echoing in her ears.

"Oh, Mistress Rachel you shouldn't!" Ceesy cried, looking dismayed as Rachel entered the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it Ceesy- you can still wash them up and tidy the dining room; you're still a brilliant House-Elf," Rachel said; setting the plates, cutlery and glasses down on the draining board by the sink. "…Are you, er, planning on doing any baking today?"

"Yes, Mistress," Ceesy nodded. "Mistress Susanne has asked Ceesy to make a chocolate-flavoured cake that she can take to your Grandmother's tomorrow morning."

"I see… Would you mind if I helped- and you taught me how to make it?"

"Not at all Mistress," Ceesy beamed. "You must let Ceesy do all the clearing up, though- Ceesy is proud to be a good House-Elf!"

"I will Ceesy- thank you," Rachel smiled back.

"You is very welcome, Mistress."

Rachel tucked her hair behind her ears and crossed to the sink to wash her hands as Marcus and Oliver entered the kitchen- the former carrying the flying miniature dragon Rachel had bought him for Christmas- grinning excitedly and looking very much as though things were back to normal between them.

"Your mother sent me a message- she's going to be working late tonight, helping keep the Muggles unaware of some raids," Flavius announced as he sat down at the dining table that evening, having come home from work rather later than usual that day. "Now, Marcus," Flavius went on, turning to his son. "Your Mother and I have been talking."

"Yeah?" Marcus asked, slightly cautiously.

"Yes," Flavius nodded. "and we've decided that now that you're thirteen it's time that you start to take on a bit more responsibility, so after work today I went to Gringotts and opened you your own vault. Vault 546 is now entirely yours to use however you wish, here is your key." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled a small gold key from within and pushed it across the table to Marcus.

"Well- thank you," Marcus smiled.

"You're welcome," Flavius smiled back, sobering as he went on, "Having your own bank account is something one ought to be wise with… We hope that you will wizen-up accordingly."

Marcus's expression hardened; and Rachel could tell that he had been visited by the same thought she had: that their parents hoped that the responsibility of a bank account would help Marcus become more mature- and, perhaps in turn, see that she, Rachel, was manipulating him and drop her. But, imagining how useful having a vault would be and supposing it would be difficult to get one without parental permission while underage, Rachel caught Marcus's eye, silently willing him to take the key as his gaze flickered to her. Marcus seemed to understand her expression, and after a moment, he picked up the key and pocketed it. "Thank you." He said curtly.

Flavius nodded with a smile, clearly noticing nothing.

"…Positive relationship, remember?" Rachel reminded Marcus, looking up from the book she was reading as he sat down beside her on the sofa in the living room with his holiday homework after the meal; Flavius having retired to his study.

"Yeah, but, I know you thought the same thing I did," Marcus said, opening his Transfiguration textbook, "That aside from wanting to give me more responsibility they hope that the maturity will lead to me excommunicating you, too."

"Yes, but you can ignore that bit," Rachel pointed out. "Focus on the responsibility stuff- and there are lots of advantages to having your own vault; somewhere to keep money and valuables and everything- and it's yours forever."

"Very true," Marcus nodded, smiling, unrolling a new roll of parchment and picking up his quill. Rachel returned to her book losing herself in the Tales of Beedle the Bard in a way she had not done since she was little; forgetting her surroundings completely.

* * *

 _Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap!_

Early in the evening just over a week later, Rachel started from her thoughts, looking across her bedroom in the direction of the glass in her bedroom window to see what, exactly, was tapping at it. Moments later, she had set aside her Potions holiday homework, got to her feet and was hurrying over to the window, for perched atop the still outside was a large and regal looking barred owl called Miranda, who belonged to Rachel's friend Pansy, and carried a letter addressed to Rachel.

Smiling, Rachel opened the window and allowed Miranda admittance, taking the letter and opening the door to the cage of her own, brown, owl, Artemisia- who was out hunting- to allow Miranda to drink. As Miranda gulped down water, Rachel sat down on the end of her bed and opened Pansy's letter.

 _Dear Rachel,_

 _How are you? Sorry I haven't been able to write much, but it's been very busy here- Eliza has been showing us around her favourite places in France- today we went to this big Muggle tower called 'the Eiffel Tower' and it really is amazing- especially in the evenings when it's all light up, though I think it would look better with real fairy lights. Eliza won't hear of even a murmur of complaint against it, though- she loves it so much that she's taking a summer-long course in hairdressing at a nearby Muggle hairdressers' so she can walk past it every day- and because she's always had an interest in hair styling. Tomorrow we're going to see Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, the school she works at- though only from the outside, as it's closed for the summer holidays._

 _We're coming back to England on the 15_ _th_ _of August, and Mum and Dad say that you and Millicent can come and stay on the 20_ _th_ _until the 26_ _th_ _, provided you get your parents' permission of course. Let me know what they say and if they agree Mum and Dad say you can come round anytime after ten o'clock, though preferably before midday like last year._

 _Hope your holidays are going well, and that you get permission,_

 _Pansy :)_

Rachel finished reading and looked up, now biting the inside of her lip slightly anxiously. Going to Pansy's Manor for six days would be brilliant-she would get to see and have fun with Pansy and Millicent, as well as have a very welcome break from feeling like a sort of ostracised leper, as she very often had these holidays. The thing was, she had made such an effort to stay out of her parents' way, and they had been so unpleasant to her on multiple occasions, that she couldn't imagine that they would be inclined to do her any favours. On the other hand, letting her go would mean that she would be out of the house for almost a week, something she rather thought would be very agreeable to both her parents.

Folding up Pansy's letter, Rachel got to her feet, straightened her clothes and glasses and ran a brush through her hair to neaten it; making herself look as presentable as possible. Picking up Pansy's letter from where she had left it on her bed, Rachel went in search of her mother, closing her bedroom door behind her.

Susanne had spent most of the week laying on the sofa in the sitting room- she had been struck in the kneecap by a wayward hex during the last of the nine raids she had been asked to assist with by obliviating any passing Muggles the previous week, and had been told by the Healers at St Mungo's that though they had reversed the swelling and healed the damage, she would need to take it easy for a week, and thus she had taken to the sofa. It was there that Rachel found her, reading _Travels with Trolls_ by Gilderoy Lockhart and drinking a cup of tea. Gilderoy Lockhart, a very good-llooking wizard with bright blue eyes and wavy blonde hair, grinned and winked cheekily over at Rachel from the front cover of _Travels with Trolls_ as she approached her mother rather tentatively.

"Er- excuse me, Mum?"

Susanne looked up from her book. "Yes?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Um- my friend Pansy, you know, she's just written to me, inviting me to say with her," Rachel said, handing Pansy's letter to her mother. She waited a few moments, as her mother read the letter through. "…and I was wondering- can I go, please?"

Susanne said nothing, nor did she look up from the letter. Rachel shifted slightly where she stood, her hopes falling more and more the longer she waited…

"…Yes, you may go," Susanne said at last, handing the letter back. "You are to leave here at ten-fifteen on the morning of the twentieth, and return no later than a quarter to six in the afternoon on the twenty-sixth via the floo network, like you did over Christmas last year."

"I remember," Rachel nodded, relief crashing over her. "Thank you," she smiled.

But Susanne had already turned back to Travels with Trolls. Folding up her letter, Rachel left the room, doing her best to ignore the wave of upset she felt at her mother's attitude. At least she had not been nasty, and had given her permission to go. A broad grin spreading across her face at the thought of going to stay with her friend, Rachel ran upstairs to write back to Pansy.

* * *

The following morning, Rachel was eating breakfast with Marcus in the dining room- Flavius was at work already and Susanne was upstairs getting dressed- when a flurry of tapping on the window caused them both to look up. Two important looking owls stood on the window-still, letters in their beaks. Marcus got to his feet, crossed the room and opened the window, taking the letters from the owls.

"Hogwarts letters," he said, as the owls flew off, having refused his offer of water. "Here's yours," he slid one of the letters across the table towards Rachel.

"Thank you," Rachel picked up her letter from the table and opened it, pulling out two pieces of parchment.

 _Dear Miss Belby_ ,

 _ **Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.**_

 _ **A list of books for next year is enclosed.**_

 _ **Yours sincerely,**_

 _ **Professor M. McGonagall**_

 _ **Deputy Headmistress**_

Turning to the second piece of parchment from her envelope, Rachel couldn't help but raise her eyebrows as she looked down her booklist.

 _ **SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:**_

 _ **The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk**_

 _ **Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

 _ **Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart**_

"Merlin, I reckon I've got every book Gilderoy Lockhart's ever written on here." Marcus said as he sat back down beside Rachel.

"So have I- look," Rachel handed him her booklist.

"Must be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Marcus said, looking down it before handing it back. "She must be some kind of super fan."

"What have you got there, Marcus?" Susanne hurried into the dining room, dressed in her Obliviator uniform.

"Hogwarts letters have arrived," Marcus said, handing her his booklist. "And, er, I've been sent a permission form, for Hogsmede visits. Will you sign it, please?" he pulled a third piece of parchment from behind the letter he still held and held it out to his mother.

"Yes of course." Susanne nodded at once with a smile, took her wand from her pocket and flicked it; moments later, a quill came flying into the dining room. Susanne plucked it from mid-air, took Marcus's permission form and signed it with a flourish.

"Thank you." Marcus smiled, taking back the form.

"There's no need to thank me- I'm your mother," Susanne smiled back at Marcus; clearly, she had forgotten whatever issue she and Flavius had had with him, "and as for you school books… We'll go to Diagon Alley next Wednesday," she said decisively. "Your father has to go to a conference in France, but it's my next day off, and with Ceesy's help we should be able to manage everything just fine. Now I have to go or I'll be late. Have a good day."

Dropping Marcus's booklist down onto the dining table, she kissed him swiftly on the top of his head, taking no heed of his protests, and left the dining room, ignoring Rachel completely. Moments later, a small _pop!_ echoed faintly back into the dining room from the foyer, announcing Susanne's departure.

"Er, I'm sure that goodbye was meant towards you, too," Marcus said, turning to Rachel.

"Don't worry about it," Rachel shrugged, pushing down the upset she felt. "…Talking of mum's attitude, though," she went on "Why did you tell Oliver that you'd been acting as a mediator between Mum, Dad and I when you haven't; not _really_?"

Marcus looked up from his food so suddenly Rachel was slightly alarmed. "None of your business," he snapped angrily, "and you know, I wouldn't make a habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations."

"I don't plan too, and in any case, you left the dining room door open, I couldn't help overhearing." Rachel shot back coolly. "I wouldn't normally comment, for your information- I was only asking this time in case you wanted to talk about anything! I mean, you told me that the reason why you weren't spending time with Oliver is because Oliver went to visit his mother in St Mungo's; and I can't think why you'd keep the fact that you wanted time to yourself secret."

"Well I don't want to talk," Marcus said harshly.

"Fine," Rachel shrugged slightly defensively, going back to her food. "Excuse me for caring about you."

"…Look, I'm sorry for snapping," Marcus said after a moment, sounding genuinely remorseful. "I know you're only asking because you care. It's just I've been a bit- a bit overwhelmed with schoolwork and exams and holiday homework and I'm only just relaxing after it all- that's all. I didn't mean to be secretive, I was just concentrating, you know?"

"…Yeah," Rachel nodded after a moment. "Well, if you ever want to talk about anything, I'll listen." She smiled.

"Thanks, I'll remember that," Marcus said gratefully, smiling back, though whether he would actually taker her up on the offer he wasn't sure. "Same goes for you- if you ever want to talk, I'll listen."

"You're welcome," Rachel said, "and thank you, I'll remember that."

"You're welcome," Marcus grinned amusedly.

Rachel grinned back with a laugh and the two returned to their breakfasts, all ill feeling between them forgotten.

But as she left the dining room ahead of her brother, Rachel half thought she saw the corners of Marcus's mouth turn down slightly out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked over her shoulder to check, Marcus smiled at her as easily as ever. Putting her thoughts down to a ghost of her previous concerns, Rachel smiled back and continued upstairs to get ready to go to the town square near her home for the day.

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


	3. TheNewDefenceAgainsttheDarkArtsTeacher

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter. The** _ **bold, italic, underline text**_ **are direct quotes from the** _ **Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Philsopher's Stone**_ **books respectively.**

 **A/N: Massive thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouring and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

 **Twitter: Prof_McGonagal**

 **Chapter 3: The New Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher**

 _But as she left the dining room ahead of her brother, Rachel half thought she saw the corners of Marcus's mouth turn down slightly out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked over her shoulder to check, Marcus smiled at her as easily as ever. Putting her thoughts down to a ghost of her previous concerns, Rachel smiled back and continued upstairs to get ready to go to the town square near her home for the day._

Marcus sighed, closing his bedroom door behind him and flopping face down onto his bed, defeated. Why… why did everything have to be so bloody complicated?

Things had been going _so well_. He had managed to get a handle back on his… on everything, after his encounter with Irma Zabini before the start of the last school year had wrenched it from him, and then, a few days after his thirteenth birthday, it had all started to come to the surface again… until he needed a break… and now he had been rude to Rachel and lied to Oliver _and_ her- little, white lies, but lies nonetheless.

 _Knock-knock!_

Marcus hastened to sit up. "Yes?" he called out.

The door to his bedroom opened slightly and Rachel looked in. "I'm going to the square now," she said, "do you want to come?"

Marcus shook his head, feeling he needed a bit of time to himself. "No, thanks. What time will you be back?"

"Er," Rachel glanced at her watch. "Two o'clock."

Marcus nodded, "See you then," he smiled

Rachel smiled back. "See you," she replied, ducking out of the room. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind her than Marcus flopped back down onto his bed, pillowing his head with his hands and closing his eyes as he dove back into his thoughts; attempting to think his way out of the mess of lies he had thought himself into.

* * *

Rachel took her time getting to the square; it was bright and sunny outside and aside from a few unnerved stares from a group of Muggle children who were no-doubt frightened of her thanks to Marcus and Oliver having got into a fight with a Muggle boy on their first day of year one and turned the boy's hair blue, and made his skin break out in large, painful boils with accidental magic, her walk was very pleasant indeed.

When she reached the square, she was surprised upon glancing through the window of Sugar-Free Sensations Tearoom to see Hermione Granger sitting in the very back corner of the shop, a book of thin-looking white parchment, a quill-like object with no feather and a book with a dust jacket proclaiming it to be called 'A Beginner's Guide to Dentistry; Molars and Malocclusion', on the table in front of her- the book propped up against two salt and pepper shakers. But judging by the way Granger appeared to be copying down a quote from the book, and the fact that the pages of said book looked to be very much the same colour and thickness of Rachel's own school books, Rachel couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Granger wasn't studying dentistry- which was, Rachel presumed from the title of the book, something to do with teeth- at all… But surely, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's friend, the girl who had topped the year last year, wouldn't risk her place at Hogwarts, never mind breaking the Statute of Secrecy, over something as trivial as doing homework in a Muggle café? As Rachel continued to walk past the window, a slim, intelligent looking woman with green eyes and dark brown hair tied back in a thick, rather frizzy looking plait came out of a door behind the café's counter and approached Granger, clearly asking her a question. Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise and Granger looked up and made no effort to cover her writings; on the contrary, she turned the notebook towards the woman. Perhaps she, Rachel, was wrong; maybe Granger really was studying teeth after all. Pushing her glasses up her nose, Rachel adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and continued on her way to the library.

* * *

The following Wednesday morning, Rachel, Marcus and Susanne apparated onto the main street in Diagon Alley, the former two with their booklists in their pockets and the latter with an empty moneybag in her handbag. Susanne dropped Rachel's arm the moment their feet hit solid ground, leaving the girl to regain her balance by herself- fortunately she was able to grab hold of the rim of a large, sturdy cauldron on display outside Potage's Cauldron Shop to steady herself.

"Gringotts' first," Susanne announced, letting go of Marcus once they both had regained their balance, ignoring Rachel and setting off down the street towards the bank.

"All good?" Marcus asked Rachel as she fell into step beside him.

"Fine thanks." Rachel nodded, pushing down her upset at her mother's actions as they followed their mother down the street; Susanne was, as far as she, Rachel, knew, still paying for her school things, and she wasn't about to do anything to jeopardise her education- though how it could be jeopardised she wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to risk it.

Diagon Alley was as brightly coloured and as packed with witches and wizards of all ages as ever, a fair few of which were stopping outside of Flourish and Blotts, looking up at a large banner that had been stretched across the shop's upper windows:

 _ **GILDEROY LOCKHART**_

 _ **will be signing copies of his autobiography**_

 _ **MAGICAL ME**_

 _ **today 12.30- 4.30 pm**_

"Well, would you look at that!" Susanne gestured to the banner, her face alight. "If we leave your textbooks until last, we should be in time to meet Gilderoy Lockhart himself. I'd say that would be very interesting- especially as he wrote the vast majority of your booklist. How about it?"

Marcus nodded, moving forwards and looking up at the banner. "Yeah, sure."

"Excellent," Susanne said as Rachel started to nod, too; taking absolutely no notice of her daughter whatsoever. Rachel's spirits dropped further, but she tried not to let it show, her earlier thoughts prevalent in her mind. Despite her thoughts, her spirits rose as Marcus fell back, pointedly, into step beside her; and she couldn't help but smiled at him faintly, but gratefully. Marcus grinned easily back as they climbed the set of white stairs that lead up to a set of large bronze doors flanked by a scarlet-and-gold-uniformed goblin, passed through them, and then approached and passed through a second, silver set, which was this time flanked by a pair of uniformed goblins and decorated with a poem _**(Enter, stranger, but take heed/Of what awaits the sin of greed/For those who take, but do not earn,/Must pay most dearly in their turn./So if you seek beneath our floors/A treasure that was never yours,/Thief, you have been warned, beware/ _Of finding more than treasure there)_ , **_and entered the bank behind their mother, who, whether fortunately or unfortunately, appeared to notice nothing of her children's interaction.

Rachel exhaled with relief as her mother handed the shopkeeper at Slug & Jiggers Apothecary a small handle of sickles and knuts, paying for both her and Marcus's new Potions supplies. Though her mother had eyed the ingredients Rachel had placed on the counter with a rather pinched expression, as though she would rather they not be there, she had paid for them, and for that Rachel was both grateful and relieved. Next they went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, wherein Rachel needed nothing, but Marcus got new robes, as his old ones were several inches too short.

"Do you need anything else?" Susanne asked, glancing at her watch as they walked down the street, Ceesy having apparated away with Marcus's robes.

"Er- yeah," Marcus said, "I need some more rat treats for Newt."

"And, er, I need some treats for Artemisia, please," Rachel spoke up slightly nervously.

Susanne's lips thinned. "Okay- well, let's go and get them now before we go to Flourish and Blotts." She said rather tersely, leading the way along the street to the Magical Menagerie.

It was rather busy inside the shop. Witches and wizards swirled about the shop floor, chatting away as they looked around at the various pets and pet supplies, occasionally raising their vices to be heard over the din that echoed around the shop from various cages. A gigantic tortoise with a shell encrusted with glittering jewels stood in a glass cage near the window; a couple of enormous purple toads sat nearby it, gulping wetly and devouring dead blowflies; Venomous orange snails were creeping slowly up the side of their glass tank, their black eyes gleaming in such a way that reminded Rachel unnervingly of Marcus's pet rat, Newt- she was not the biggest fan of rodents- their small dark eyes had always somewhat spooked her- a little way along from the snails, a large white rabbit kept shifting into a silk top hat, then back into a rabbit again with a loud POP! Cats of every colour lined the walls; purring and eyeing a noisy cage of ravens and a few distinguished looking owls in the corner hungrily; a basket of what looked like funny custard-coloured furballs stood near the large counter, humming loudly; and up atop the counter itself, stood a huge cage of sleek black rats who were playing some kind of skipping game with the aid of their long, hairless tails. Rachel shuddered slightly, turning away and heading over to a tall display of owl treats in the corner near the cages of owls and ravens; as Marcus and Susanne walked to the rat treats on the other side of the shop.

Spying large packets of Artemisia's favourite brand of owl treats on one of the higher shelves, Rachel reached out, her arm, stretching up onto the tip of her toes, but she was only able to brush the packaging with her fingers before she lost her balance and was forced to drop back onto her heels. She was able to catch hold of the bottom of the packet on her second attempt, but failed to get it off the shelf. Her third and fourth attempts yielded identical results. Rachel huffed angrily, falling back onto her heels and glaring at the owl treats.

"Need a hand?" a vaguely familiar voice sounded behind her.

Rachel turned around. A wiry boy with thick blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and startlingly bright blue eyes, stood behind her, smiling. He looked very familiar and after a movement Rachel placed him- it was Terence Higgs, a Slytherin from the year above.

"Oh, hello," Rachel smiled.

"Hi," Terence smiled back. "Do you want a hand getting those down?" he pointed to the owl treats Rachel had been trying to reach.

Rachel glanced up at the owl treats and nodded after a moment, admitting defeat. "Yes please."

As he was slightly taller than Rachel, Terence was able to reach up and get a hold of the treats with only a little difficultly.

"How many packets would you like?"

"Er- two please… Thanks." Rachel smiled gratefully, taking the packets as he passed them down to her.

"Don't mention it," Terence grinned, dropping down onto his heels and leaning back against a nearby stand, which half stocked with cat food. "Have you had a good summer so far?"

"…Yeah, pretty good," Rachel replied carefully, nodding. "You?"

"Yeah, it's been great," Terence replied enthusiastically. "I got back from America last we-"

"Higgs." Marcus seemed to materialise out of nowhere holding two large packets of rat treats and frowning slightly.

"Belby." Terence turned around, his tone suddenly rather less than friendly.

"You should probably hurry up and get to choosing some before they're gone," Marcus said curtly, nodding towards the stand of cat treats Terence was leaning against.

"I don't have a cat," Terence replied, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And, actually-"

"There you are, T," Terence broke off as a long, straight blonde haired, brown-eyed girl approached them- she was the same girl, Rachel realised, who had been giggling at Terence's impression of Professor Quirrell's stutter in the library the previous school year. "Did you find them? It's just that my mum's waiting."

"Oh, er, no- but don't worry El, I'll order them from Eeylops," Terence ran a hand through his hair. "Good to see you again," he added, smiling at Rachel.

She nodded, smiling back, "You too."

" _T,"_ Marcus said rather mockingly with a nod, smirking. The girl- El- narrowed her eyes, but Terence ignored him and turned away; after a moment El turned away, too, seeming to decide to drop the matter; and Terence fell into step beside her, slipping his arm around her shoulders as they left the shop.

"Are you friends with him?" Marcus asked Rachel, looking after the two. "Higgs, I mean- I remember you walked into breakfast with him and your friends once early last year."

Rachel shook her head. "No, we're not really friends," she answered. "He showed us where the Owlery is that day and just helped me get these bags down; we've only ever spoken a few times."

"Good," Marcus brushed his hair from his eyes with his free hand. "I'd keep it that way, if I were you."

"Why?" Rachel asked, suddenly feeling slightly defensive. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's arrogant and boastful; always banging on about his travels; and I've heard he's unreliable," Marcus said. "Borrows people's stuff and struggles to return it on time- and I've heard he acts like he's Merlin's gift in lessons and stuff, too. Trust me, Rachel, he's not someone you can reply upon."

Rachel shrugged non-committedly, adjusting her grip on her packets of owl treats as Susanne squeezed through the crowd and approached her children.

"There you are- have you got everything?"

"Yeah," Marcus nodded; Rachel did the same, but her mother did not look in her direction.

"Good- if we pay for these now we'll have enough time to get your school books before Gilderoy Lockhart's signing."

Going to Flourish and Blotts before Gilderoy Lockhart's book signing proved to be a good idea; though there were still fifteen minutes until the author was due to arrive, the shop was packed with customers, mostly witches a few years older than Susanne.

"Go and get your books, then, and I'll wait for you here," Susanne said, joining the crowd of women jostling around a table piled with copies of Magical Me by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Gilderoy Lockhart's other books were piled on tables and shelves dotted around the rest of the shop, too, likely due to the onslaught of Hogwarts students that would be purchasing them; and, at the head of the shop, adjacent to the counter, a table and chair had been set up, the former lined with several shining framed photographs of Gilderoy Lockhart's face, every one of which beamed and winked cheekily out at the shop. Rachel and Marcus edged past the table and squeezed past the other shoppers, picking up a copy each of every Lockhart book, with the exception of his autobiography, mentally checking them off their booklists as they went. Marcus also picked up copies of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3_ and _Numerology and Grammatica,_ as he was starting Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures that year- the required text for the latter was _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ , which was a book all students purchased in their first year. Marcus went to pass on his books to Susanne as Rachel made to pick up a copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2,_ before a familiar voice made her stop in her tracks.

"Hi Rachel!" Rachel looked up in surprise. A tall, athletic square-jawed girl with thick curly black hair, stood before her, grinning- her friend, Millicent Bulstrode.

"Millicent- hi!" Rachel grinned back. "How are you?"

"Good- Mum and Dad have hired a Quidditch coach for me, and he thinks I should be ready to play on the Slytherin team soon," Millicent replied. "How about you? How have things been? You haven't really said much in your letters."

"Yeah, I know- I like to try and keep them cheerful," Rachel said. "Are you going to Pansy's tomorrow, too?"

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it." Millicent said, "This new booklist is a bit intense isn't it?" she said as the two girls picked up copies of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2._

Rachel nodded. "I think it's about every book Gilderoy Lockhart's ever written."

"Nothing wrong with that," a familiar voice spoke from behind them and Rachel and Millicent turned; a round faced girl with mid-length wavy brown hair and dark green eyes stood behind them.

"Pansy, hey!" They exclaimed, grinning.

"Hey," Pansy grinned back. "I didn't think I'd see you two until tomorrow."

"Hey, Rachel," Marcus squeezed through the now very large and jousting crowd inside the shop and approached his sister. "Sorry to interrupt, but Mum wants to pay for our books before Lockhart shows up and things get mad. I'll take your books over to her, if you want."

"Yeah, thanks." Rachel smiled, handing over her textbooks.

"Don't mention it." Marcus smiled back, turning and squeezing back through the crowd.

"Has everything been okay?" Millicent asked Rachel, looking at her in concern.

Before Rachel could reply, however, she, Pansy and Millicent were forced to move away from the standard book of spells books and across the shop front as a large group of teenagers came in search of the Standard Book of Spells Grade 5, and the crowd inside the shop swelled seemingly tenfold.

"This is mad." Pansy said, looking around them and standing her ground as a young girl tried to push past her.

Rachel nodded. "Well deserved though- seeing as Lockhart wrote practically the entirety of our booklist."

No sooner had she finished speaking, when she heard a scornfully amused and none to pleasantly-familiar snicker from behind her. Whipping around, her teeth already on edge, Rachel's eyes narrowed as they were greeted by the entirely unwelcome sight of Blaise Zabini.

But there was something different about him; that much was evident immediately. He was slightly taller, yes, but aside from the way he was smirking mockingly at Rachel, the haughtiness and arrogance that made up his demeanour was more apparent than ever; and the cut of the Muggle jeans, t-shirt and shoes he wore were clearly very expensive indeed; even his buzzed haircut looked particularly precise and somehow expensive, too. His mocking smirk, however, was exactly the same as ever, and it annoyed Rachel to no end.

"Can I help you?" she demanded.

"No," Zabini shook his head. "You see, Belby, you need a brain to help people and evidently _you_ don't have one."

"Really?" Rachel arched an eyebrow, glaring at him. "Well, perhaps part of _your_ brain that controls your memory might care to remember that my- apparently brain-less- self came third in the year overall last year, whereas you- well, you came fifth: two ranks below me."

Zabini glared back at her, but before he could retort those in the shop around them burst into applause. Turning, the four Slytherins saw Gilderoy Lockhart, wearing robes made of a forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes and his wizard's hat at a jaunty angle atop his wavy hair, walk slowly into view, and sit down behind the table lined with photographs of his face. Instantly, Zabini turned around and started to shoulder his way through the crowd behind him towards the shelves were the _Standard Book of Spells_ books were held. An irritable-looking A short, irritable-looking man pushed his way to the front of the crowd, jostling it and bumping into people left and right as he started taking photographs of Lockhart with an enormous black camera that emitted clouds of purple smoke with each blinding flash. A few moments later, Irma Zabini squeezed past Rachel, her arms full of what looked to be Lockhart books, a Rune Dictionary _, Ancient Runes Made Easy,_ and, on the very top of the pile a textbook titled _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_ by Wilhelm Wigworthy. Irma followed her younger brother through the crowd, rolling her eyes as Gilderoy Lockhart jumped to his feet, shouting: _**"It can't be Harry Potter?"**_

The section of the crowd near Rachel, Pansy and Millicent divided, whispering excitedly and bursting into applause as Gilderoy Lockhart dived forward, and pulled Harry Potter by the arm into the space between the crowd and the table he, Lockhart, had previously sat behind; away from where Potter had clearly been standing with the Weasleys, Hermione Granger, a tall, rather bemused looking man who looked very like Granger- they had the same shade of brown hair and eyes; Rachel assumed he was Granger's father. Beside him stood a slim, intelligent, and also rather bemused-looking woman with green eyes and thick, bushy dark brown hair- it was, Rachel realised with a jolt, the same woman who had approached Granger from the backroom of Sugar-Free Sensations Tearoom the previous week. If the man was Granger's father, and Rachel was certain he was, then the woman must be Granger's mother; that would explain why Granger showed her her notebook in the tearoom without any apparent reservations. But what was Granger's mother doing in the backroom of the tearoom, when her business, Granger's Dental Practice, was next door?

A sudden flash of light and a cloud of purple smoke distracted Rachel from her thoughts completely and she looked around, blinking rapidly to see the photographer snapping photos of a very red faced Potter and a beaming Gilderoy Lockhart as the latter shook the former's hand vigorously, all the while beaming straight at the photographer, who was now taking photographs at an almost alarming rate, sending thick clouds of smoke over the crowd. Lockhart's lips moved slightly as he grinned, murmuring something to Potter, but what it was wasn't clear.

After several minutes of posing for photographs, Lockhart finally released Potter's hand; Potter attempted to slip back over to the Weasleys and Grangers, but Lockhart threw his arm around the boy's shoulders, pulling him back and clamping him to his side, rather tightly, too, it looked.

Raising his arm, Lockhart waved for everyone to cease to applaud. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he cried loudly "What a truly extraordinary moment this one is! It is the the perfect moment, in fact, for me to make a small announcement, one that I have been sitting on for some stretch of time!

"When young Harry Potter here entered Flourish and Blotts today, he wanted only to buy my autobiography– a copy of which I am very happy to present to him now, without any charge -" burst into applause rang around again. "He had absolutely no idea," Lockhart went on, shaking Potter slightly and making his glasses slip down to the very end of his nose, "that he would very soon be a great deal much more than my autobiography, _Magical M_ e. He and his schoolfellows will, in fact, be getting the actual magical me. Yes, my dear ladies and gentlemen, I have great pride and pleasure in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the teaching position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The cheers and applause at these words were positively tumultuous; beaming, Lockhart presented Potter with a pile of his works. Taking them, Potter staggered away from the head of the shop bacj over to the Weasleys and Grangers, and Rachel saw him tip the books into a cauldron, beside which a small girl of about eleven with flaming red hair Rachel remembered from her going with her parents to drop off and pick up Marcus from Platform nine and three-quarters the year before last as the young girl who had stood with Ron Weasley and a woman who Rachel assumed to be his mother on the platform. At the same time, Rachel caught sight of a slender boy around her age with sleek white-blond hair, grey eyes, a pale complexion and rather sharp, pointed features walking over to Potter, sneering- it was Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin boy in her year.

"Rachel," Rachel turned as Marcus came over to her, squeezing past an elderly witch with a large monocle. "Mum's about to get her copy of Lockhart's autobiography signed, she's paid for our books and she has we're to wait for her outside and call Ceesy."

"Okay," Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose and massaged her hands; they had become slightly numb from all the clapping. "See you tomorrow," she said to Pansy and Millicent, grinning excitedly at the thought.

"See you then," they replied, grinning excitedly back.

Rachel followed Marcus as he slowly squeezed his way through the shop, passing where Harry Potter was standing with the Weasleys and Grangers. Draco stood before them; and a man with a pale, pointed face, pale blond hair and cold grey eyes stood behind him with a hand on Draco's shoulder. He was clutching a very old, battered, second-hand copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ , and such was the extent of the resemblance between him and Draco that he could only be the boy's father. He appeared to be having a very unpleasant conversation with a thin, balding red-haired man who could only be Weasley's father- his face was twisted into a sneer identical to Draco's as he looked in the direction of Hermione Granger's parents- who looked rather scared- and Mr Weasley's face was bright red, as was Ron Weasley's- Potter and Granger had a hold on his jacket- and the young Weasley girl's.

"Almost there," Marcus said over his shoulder to Rachel as they neared the door, squeezing through the large crowd-

 _THUD!_

 _CRASH!_

Rachel and Marcus whirled around curiously as great ruckus sounded from behind them. Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy were punching and fighting like Muggles on shop floor; the caldron the Weasley girl had been standing beside had been knocked over as had a bookshelf, and books surrounded the two men as they lashed out at one another.

"Yeah get him, Dad- go on!" one of the Weasley twins shouted in delight; a short, plump woman with red hair who Rachel also remembered from her going with her parents to drop off and pick up Marcus from Platform nine and three-quarters the year before last to be Ron Weasley's mother shrieked, "Arthur- no, Arthur, no!", looking furious; the crowd around them stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; Rachel caught sight of Millicent's mother grabbing at one of Pansy's mother's many scarves to steady herself; Isabella Parkinson flailed, holding onto her large, floppy sunhat; Gilderoy Lockhart was on his feet, watching the scene with an expression of ever-increasing delight-

"Gentle- gentlemen-, please - please!" the shop assistant cried, coming out behind from the cash register, and then, over all the noise-

"Break it up over there, gents, come on now, break it up-"

Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts' gamekeeper, waded towards the fight through the sea of books on the floor. Over eleven-foot tall, with a long mane of shaggy black hair and a beard that covered most of his face, and kindly beetle black eyes; Hagrid was three times a wide as a normal man. His feet were like dolphins in their boots; and his hands were the size of dustbin lids and in an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy away from each other. Mr. Weasley had a large cut in his lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by a copy of _Encyclopedia of Toadstools_. He was still holding the old Transfiguration textbook, which he thrust at the young Weasley girl, his cold grey eyes glittering, full of malice.

"Here you go, girl- take your textbook - it's obviously the best your father can get you -" Wrenching himself from Hagrid's grip, he beckoned to Draco and the two swept out of the shop.

Rachel and Marcus stared at each other.

"What was that all about, d'you think?" Marcus asked.

"I'm not sure- Mr. Malfoy looked like he was sneering at that scared looking man and woman with brown hair; I think they're Hermione Granger's parents- they're Muggles, I'm pretty sure they live near us; I've seen Granger and the woman about the town square," Rachel replied.

Marcus looked over at them. "Yeah, I think I've seen them about, too."

"There you two are, take your school books, go on," Susanne came over to her children, holding Magical Me by Gilderoy Lockhart in one hand and levitating her children's many schoolbooks over her head Flicking her wand, Susanne make the books divide into two piles and fall slowly down to Rachel and Marcus. The two hastened to do as they had been told, pulling the piles from the air. "What a horrific scene that was," Susanne went on when they had their books, leading the way out of Flourish and Blotts, "shocking display of Muggle dueling- come on, let's summon Ceesy and go home and you can sort all your books out properly… Ceesy!"

* * *

Ten-fifteen the following morning found Rachel saying goodbye to Marcus before going to Parkinson Manor. The two siblings stood before the fireplace in the kitchen with Ceesy, Rachel with the packed bag she had used the previous Christmas over her shoulder and her right hand clenched tightly around a lump of floo powder.

"Have fun, yeah?" Marcus said. Both Flavius and Susanne had left for work before either Marcus or Rachel had woken up, and given that Rachel was leaving for almost a week, their absence hung thickly in the air.

"Yeah," Rachel nodded, "You too."

Almost involuntarily, she glanced towards the kitchen door, hoping against hope that one, or both of her parents would walk through it; or a Patronus or a note or something would appear from one or both of them, saying goodbye; but nothing happened. "…And, er, tell Mum and Dad I say goodbye."

"I will," Marcus promised, "…Don't worry about them," he added gently after a moment, glancing briefly towards the door, "and don't worry about Artemisia; she's in safe hands," he went on, turning back to Rachel with a smile.

Rachel smiled back gratefully. "Thank you."

"Now go," Marcus gestured towards the fireplace. "See you on the 26th."

"See you," Rachel replied, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder with her free hand.

"Bye Mistress." Ceesy smiled brightly at Rachel, curtseying.

"Bye Ceesy," Rachel smiled back.

Throwing her fist-full of floo powder into the fireplace, Rachel took off her glasses and fumbled for the the pocket of her bag. Finding it and tucking them safely inside, Rachel squinted to see through the blur of colour that was her natural vision rather pointlessly; reaching out for the wall beside the fireplace to guide her, and, following the wall and the sudden, blurry flare of green light, Rachel stepped into the fire and screwed her eyes tight shut. "Parkinson Manor Oxfordshire!"

A moment later the sensation of being pulled down an enormous drain of Floo travel eclipsed her and Rachel found herself spinning faster and faster through the floo network, the deafening great roaring noise that her elbows pressed tightly to her side; then cold blasts of air were slapping her in face as she passed fireplace after fireplace; she was spinning faster then ever- then she stopped spinning abruptly and tumbled out of a fireplace. Managing to catch herself before she fell, Rachel opened her eyes and, squinting to see, made out dark purple walls and two darked haired blurs that spoke with what looked like smiles and with the voices of her friends Pansy and Millicent respectively.

"Hi."

"Hi." Rachel replied with a smile, hastening to retrieve her glasses from her bag and putting them back on. The large white staircase, glass-paned front doors bookended by large green plants, dark wooden doors of other rooms, dark purple walls, dark wooden floor and white faux-fur hearthrug of the foyer of Parkinson Manor came into focus, as did Pansy and Millicent, who were standing in front of her, smiling, the latter with the same black bag she had had the previous Christmas over her shoulder. "I haven't kept you waiting around, have I?"

"No- I only got here a few minutes ago." Millicent replied.

"Come upstairs- you can put your things in your rooms- they're the same as before." Pansy said, leading the way up the stairs to the yellow and blue guestrooms of Parkinson Manor. "We're home alone- Eliza decided to stay in France this summer and my both my parents got called to St. Mungo's and meetings respectively this morning, otherwise they would be here as well," Pansy went on as Rachel dropped her bag in the yellow guestroom and Millicent the blue and the girls continued on their way to Pansy's light purple bedroom, half of which was devoted to Pansy's passion for designing and making clothes. "They say hello and welcome back, though- dump the books on the floor; I forgot to move them." Pansy added as they entered the room and saw that half of her bed was taken up by her textbooks for the upcoming school year.

"Wasn't it mad yesterday?" Millicent asked, as the girls moved the piles of books to the floor and sat down on Pansy's bed. "Draco and Weasley's fathers fighting in Flourish and Blotts?"

"Yeah- and Gilderoy Lockhart's small announcement." Rachel nodded.

"I can't believe he's going to be teaching us," Pansy said, handing around a packet of sugar quills from her bedside drawer. "I mean- he's done so much; we're bound to learn loads."

"Don't you think it's a bit strange though?" Rachel asked, frowning slightly as a thought occurred to her. "Don't get me wrong it's amazing that someone with his life experiences is going to be teaching us to defend ourselves, but the thing is- he's a professional author- he's probably made enough money to live on comfortably for the rest of his life already; why suddenly become a teacher?"

"My parents were talking about that last night," Millicent said, "and my father said that Lockhart probably sees it as a challenge. See, apparently the Defence Against the Dark Arts position is jinxed."

"Jinxed?" Pansy and Rachel echoed, staring at her.

"Uh-huh," Millicent nodded knowledgeably. "My father said that no one has ever lasted longer than a year in the Defence Against the Dark Arts job for years, so everyone thinks it's jinxed. No one knows if it's actually jinxed or who jinxed it if it is, but my father reckons Lockhart thinks he's going to be the one who breaks it."

"That makes sense," Rachel nodded, breaking off the nib of her sugar quill. "Do you think he will?"

"Possibly," Pansy replied. "I mean, look at everything he's done," she gestured around at the pile of books beside her bed. "If anyone can change things and lift the curse surely it's him… speaking of change," she added, leaning back over to her bedside table and pulling a copy of Witch Weekly from within. "Last week's Witch Weekly has some very interesting horoscopes, Millicent," she smirked.

Rachel laughed; Millicent rolled her eyes exasperatedly, then grinned good-naturedly as Pansy flipped open the magazine. "Alright then- let's have it."

The next six days of the holidays were Rachel's favourite by far. The weather was warm and sunny, and so she, Pansy and Millicent spent a lot of time at the large, circular lake that ran through the very bottom of the grounds of Pansy's Manor. It never quite froze over enough to play on in winter, Pansy said, but in summer it turned the perfect mix of warm and cool. Rachel took Pansy's word for it- she was an absolutely appalling swimmer- so much so that it was embarrassing, and truth be told, she couldn't really swim at all; so while Pansy and Millicent swam around the lake, going underwater and floating on their backs, Rachel lay rather away from the bank, as she was very nervous of large bodies of water; watching her friends, reading and basking in the sun.

"Are you sure you don't want to go in?" Millicent asked as she and Pansy emerged from the water on the first day of her and Rachel's stay.

"Positive," Rachel nodded, smiling, looking at her friends from over the top of her book. "Trust me, I'm really not the swimming type. I had lessons when I was younger, but I never got the hang of it- at all, really."

"Okay," Millicent nodded, smiling back as she and Pansy flopped down onto the grass beside Rachel. "You're reading Gadding with Ghouls?" she asked, catching sight of the cover of Rachel's book as the girl set it aside.

"Yeah," Rachel replied, "I thought I might try and get ahead- it's quite good."

"…You never answered my question yesterday, you know," Millicent said carefully after a moment. "Has everything been alright at home?"

Rachel hesitated, pushing her glasses up her nose. She didn't want to dwell on the largely unpleasant situation that was her home life, wanting to get used to it and deal with it when it happened and move on when it wasn't, but she didn't want to lie to her friends either. "Not exactly…" she admitted and told tale of her parents' ignoring her coming third in the year academically; their ignoring her in general; her grandmother's acting as though she didn't exist while heaping praise upon her cousin Mary, in her certainty at her Ravenclaw future; Mary's gleeful taunts; her mother's carefully worded comment to Marcus about open books; and her mother's evident distaste at having to purchase her, Rachel's, school things. Despite her resolve that her parent's- and indeed, her extended family's- treatment of her wasn't going to change so she might as well get used to it, by the time she finished speaking, Rachel's throat was uncomfortably tight, her stomach was churning sickeningly and tears were blurring her vision, staining her glasses as they rolled down her cheeks and she fought to keep from sobbing.

"Oh, Rachel…" Pansy and Millicent stared at her, dismayed.

"It's alright," Rachel sniffed, taking her tearstained glasses off and wiping her eyes with her palm. "Well, I mean it's not alright, but it's what's normal now. I said to Marcus- my parents are never going to accept me. They've had months- an entire school year to get used to my being in Slytherin; to think and to come around and yet they still treat me like something they'd rather forget existed, so, you know, I- I might as well get used to it," she finished harshly, finally managing to regain control of her emotions and fight away her sobs. But still her stomach churned and her throat was tight and Rachel couldn't help from sniffing a second time as more tears formed and rolled down her cheeks. "…Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt though."

"Of course it's going to hurt," Pansy said sympathetically, slipping her arm comfortingly around Rachel's shoulders. "You know you can put this stuff in your letters, if you want to- you don't have to put on a brave face with us; we're your friends."

"Yeah," Millicent agreed. "I know you said you like to keep your letters positive, but you don't have to worry about depressing us because you won't- we want to be there for you through the tough stuff. So if you ever want to tell us in your letters, know that you can."

Pansy nodded, squeezing Rachel's shoulder. Rachel gave them both a rather watery smile, wiping her glasses as clean as she could on her t-shirt and wiping her eyes and cheeks behind them as she took a deep breath, pushed down her upset and slipped her glasses back onto her nose. "Thanks girls. I'll keep that in mind." she said gratefully, and the matter was left alone.

As well as spending time at the lake, swimming and lounging in the sun, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent divided their time between playing Exploding Snap; filling out quizzes in old copies of Witch Weekly; dancing wildly to the Weird Sisters on the Wizarding Wireless Network; going for walks around Pansy's neighbourhood- occasionally glimpsing the one or both of the Patil twins, who lived nearby; though they did not interact with them- and modelling various dress robes, skirts and jackets that Pansy had designed and made herself. They were carefree and full of girlish high spirits with nothing to dampen them, and thus the days flew by in a whirl of fun and laughter.

All too soon, a quarter to six in the afternoon on the twenty-sixth had arrived, and Rachel was faced with having to return home. She was looking forward to seeing Marcus and Artemisia and Ceesy again, yes, but not returning to feeling like a leper when around her parents.

Everything seemed to fly by very quickly; one moment she was thanking Mr and Mrs Parkinson for having her; the next she was saying goodbye to Pansy and Millicent in the foyer; then she had tucked her glasses safely into her pocket and was spinning through the Floo Network, faster and faster, her eyes squeezed tight shut-

"Oof!"

Rachel caught her foot on a log as she was expelled from the floo network and opened her eyes, flailing as she struggled to find something to steady herself when she couldn't see-

"Careful Mistress!" As Ceesy's voice squeaked from Rachel's right, a small, bony hand closed firmly around her wrist, guiding her to what felt like a kitchen counter steadying her; then Ceesy's hand let go of her wrist and Rachel felt the elf feel along her bag, find her glasses, take them from the pocket and tug her bag from her shoulders. "Ceesy will attend to your things; here is your glasses." Rachel felt Ceesy press her glasses against her hand and closed her fingers around them, grateful.

"Thank you, Ceesy," she said breathlessly, recovering her composure; smiling at Ceesy as she slipped her glasses onto her nose and the world came back into focus.

Ceesy beamed back at her. "You is welcome, Mistress! How is you?"

"I'm good, thank you," Rachel replied. "How are you? Is anybody else home?"

"Ceesy is fine thank you, MIstress; and yes, Mistress, your parents and brother is home," Ceesy nodded.

"Right," Rachel nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose; feeling slightly nervous at the prospect of seeing her parents again. "I'll, er, go and say hello."

"Yes, Mistress."

Rachel was halfway across the foyer, heading towards her father's study, when the door opened and her parents stepped out, both of them carrying large stacks of papers under their arms. They stooped short upon seeing Rachel, who did the same at their sudden appearance; though, unlike her parents, she smiled in greeting. "Hello," she said, feeling slightly awkward. "I'm home- on time, obviously; thank you for letting me go."

"…Yes." Susanne said stiffly after a moment, the corners of her mouth turning down as she did so. Rachel's spirits sagged, her throat tightening despite herself.

Flavius said nothing. He was looking at her oddly- the same way he had when she got back from Parkinson Manor during the Christmas holidays, Rachel realised, as though expecting her to say something, but once again, Rachel couldn't quite place what is was…

"Hey, Rachel- I thought I heard your voice!" Marcus appeared at the top of the stairs suddenly, smiling. "How was your time at the Parkinsons'?"

"Hey, Marcus," Rachel smiled back. "It was lovely, thanks, I had a lot of fun." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her parents glance at each other at her words, their expressions sour. Her smile faded.

"Great," Marcus grinned; his grin fading as he, too, glanced in the direction of their parents and caught sight of their expressions. "…Er- I was just feeding Artemisia- I think she's about to go hunting, so if you want to say hello I'd come now."

"Yeah," Rachel nodded, hastening to cross the foyer and hurry up the stairs. Her parent's attitudes stung, but Ceesy's friendliness and the warmth of Marcus's greeting comforted Rachel considerably; especially when combined with the fact that in just a few days, the summer holidays would be over, and she would be going back to Hogwarts.

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4: On the Train

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter.**

 **A/N: Huge thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouring and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

 **Twitter: Prof_McGonagal**

 **Chapter 4: On the Train**

 _"Hey, Rachel- I thought I heard your voice!" Marcus appeared at the top of the stairs suddenly, smiling. "How was your time at the Parkinsons'?"_

 _"Hey, Marcus," Rachel smiled back. "It was lovely, thanks, I had a lot of fun." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her parents glance at each other at her words, their expressions sour. Her smile faded._

 _"Great," Marcus grinned; his grin fading as he, too, glanced in the direction of their parents and caught sight of their expressions. "…Er- I was just feeding Artemisia- I think she's about to go hunting, so if you want to say hello I'd come now."_

 _"Yeah," Rachel nodded, hastening to cross the foyer and hurry up the stairs. Her parent's attitudes stung, but Ceesy's friendliness and the warmth of Marcus's greeting comforted Rachel considerably; especially when combined with the fact that in just a few days, the summer holidays would be over, and she would be going back to Hogwarts._

Rachel woke up very early on the morning of the first of September, a broad grin spreading across her face as she registered what day it was; what it meant. She'd done it- the summer holidays were over; and she was going back to Hogwarts. Fumbling for her glasses and putting them on as she found them, Rachel leapt eagerly out of bed to get ready for the day and finish off the last of her packing.

Some forty-five minutes later, Rachel forced the lid of her trunk shut over her cauldron, which she had filled with all of her Gilderoy Lockhart books to save space for her other books, and set about persuading Artemisia to get into her cage. Her owl was very disgruntled at being shut away, having had free rein of Rachel's bedroom and was able to come and go as she pleased all summer.

"Come on, A," she pleaded, stroking Artemisia's thick brown feathers, emptying half a bag of Owl treats into Artemisia's food tray. Artemisia sat on the window-sill, watching Rachel with an air of great resentment. "You can have all these treats for the journey and lots of water and when we get to Hogwarts you'll be staying in the Owlery with all the other owls, free to do whatever you want for months. You'll only be shut away for a day- not even that… _please?"_

Artemisia shook her wings, and after a moment hopped down off the window-sill and into her cage, setting down on her perch.

"Thank you," Rachel smiled, stroking her beak. "You're the best owl ever."

Artemisia hooted, nipping Rachel's finger gently. Drawing her finger from the cage; Rachel refreshed Artemisia's water and closed the door of her cage; picking it up and placing it carefully on top of her trunk.

"Ceesy!" she called.

 _CRACK!_

"Good morning Mistress," Ceesy curtseyed, apparating into Rachel's bedroom with a smile. "How can Ceesy help?"

"Morning," Rachel smiled back. "Can you take my trunk and Artemisia downstairs, please?"

"Yes, Mistress." Ceesy nodded.

"Thank you," Rachel smiled, leaving her room in search of some breakfast. She glanced at her watch as she hurried down the stairs- it was a quarter to ten- they would be leaving for Kings Cross Station soon. Marcus's trunk and his pet rat Newt in his cage sat at the foot of the stairs- Rachel edged passed them, eyeing Newt rather apprehensively as though she had Marcus's assurance that Newt would not hurt her if she didn't him, she was none too fond of rodents. Entering the dining room, Rachel found her parents and Marcus sitting around the table eating breakfast- Flavius with the Daily Prophet in front of him as usual.

"Good morning." Rachel said to the room at large, slipping into her usual seat and reaching for the toast rack. Her parents said nothing.

"Good morning," Marcus replied, raising his voice slightly as though to make up for their parents' silence. "You ready to leave?"

Rachel nodded, smiling. "Yeah- Ceesy's bringing my things downstairs now."

Flavius cleared his throat slightly, startling both Rachel and Marcus and causing them to look around at him. "Here is your money for the year, Marcus- thirty galleons; I thought you may need a little more now that you're going to be going to Hogsmeade," he said, pulling a moneybag from his pocket and handing it to Marcus.

"Thanks," Marcus replied with a smile, taking the moneybag and pocketing it.

Flavius smiled back briefly, but his expression soured soon after. "…Twenty galleons for you," he said curtly after a moment, taking a second, smaller moneybag from his pocket and pushing it across the table towards Rachel without looking at her.

Rachel stared at the moneybag in surprise. "…Thank you," she said gratefully after a moment, picking up the bag and pocketing it, feeling rather surreal. She certainty hadn't thought that after the way they had been treating her, her parents would give her money for the year- in fact, the idea hadn't even entered her head.

But Flavius did not reply; instead, he looked very disgruntled indeed. "The Ministry of Magic car will be here in a quarter of an hour," he announced, getting to his feet and leaving the dining room, tucking The Daily Prophet under his arm as he did so. Rachel noticed her mother's lips were thin behind her cup of tea as she took a sip, and she exchanged glances with Marcus, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable- clearly her parents were not happy about giving her money, but Rachel felt very reluctant to return it, for without it she would not be able to buy gifts for her friends for their birthdays and Christmas, or be able to order things from _The Daily Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly_ if she wanted to. Marcus shook his head slightly, seeming to sense her dilemma.

" _Keep it,_ " he mouthed at her across the table, giving her a comforting smile and taking a bite of toast. Rachel smiled discreetly back and poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice, deciding to take his advice, knowing that without the money she would find herself feeling helpless and embarrassed.

A quarter of an hour later, Rachel and Marcus had said goodbye to Ceesy and were climbing into the back of the Ministry of Magic car with their pets in their cages. Susanne was sitting in the large front passenger seat, and the Ministry of Magic driver and Flavius were loading Rachel and Marcus's trunks into the boot of the car. Looking out of the back of the car window to see how the trunks were going to fit into the boot without attracting the attention of any Muggles, Rachel saw her elderly neighbour, Edith Dawson, watching the two men from her front garden, her slate grey hair wrapped in curlers.

"Dawson's watching," Rachel said to Marcus. He had been looking out of the window, at the Boots house across the street; but he turned and looked out of the car's back window as Rachel spoke.

"Don't worry; she's not going to see anything; Dad's blocking her view," he replied, turning back to look out of the window at the Boots' house. "Doesn't look like the Boots are home- Oliver said they were going to visit his Mum."

"Is she getting better?" Rachel asked. Oliver and Terry's mother Sally had been hospitalised with a nasty case of Dragon Pox just before the start of the previous school year.

"They thought she was, but now they're not sure." Marcus turned back to face the inside of the car, pushing his hair from his eyes, "It's been over a year and she's still got Dragon Pox; Oliver told me that they're starting to wonder if Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's cure doesn't work on everybody."

Rachel grimaced, "So- is she going to be okay?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Marcus replied. "But the Healers at St. Mungo's are really smart so I'm sure they'll work something out."

"Yeah," Rachel agreed, nodding. The boot of the car being closed sounded from behind them as she spoke. A moment later, Flavius got into the car beside his wife; the ministry of magic driver got into the car behind the steering wheel, and a few moments later the car pulled away from the curb. Suddenly, it occurred to Rachel that she was not going to see her home again her several months- but she did not want to turn around.

Guilt pricked at her insides at the realisation. She may not have had a very pleasant summer at home- quite the opposite, in fact- but it was her home; she had lived there ever since she was born- before she had been Sorted outside of Ravenclaw; surely she should still feel an attachment to the place… Rachel grappled with her emotions, prodding and poking at them, trying to figure out why she felt how she did; if she really did feel the way she did-

But before she could work things out, or change her mind, the car had rounded a corner and her house could no longer be seen. Rachel bit her lip, conflicted, but then pushed them out of her mind, deciding to write about the feeling in her notebook later and try and work things out. There was no point dwelling on it at present; she couldn't see her house anymore and in any case, the further away the car drove from it the closer it got to Kings Cross and the faster she, Rachel, would be on the school train and heading for Hogwarts; a thought that was gradually consuming her mind, filling her with excitement and making it very difficult to think much about anything else.

At twenty to eleven, the car pulled up outside Kings Cross Station. Everyone got out; the driver and Flavius went get two trollies; Marcus and Rachel stood holding their pets in their cages while Susanne stood by the car, checking her watch slightly anxiously. Kings Cross was very busy indeed and they still needed to load the trunks and pets onto the trollies; get to the barrier between platforms nine and ten; make sure they wouldn't be noticed by any Muggles, and pass through the barrier. Rachel and Marcus were feeling slightly nervous, too, for they had to both get securely onto the train after all of that; but mostly Rachel felt excited to get away from her parents and away from the feeling of being an ostracised leper for longer than a week.

Soon enough, Flavius and the driver were back with the trollies; Marcus and Rachel's trunks had been loaded onto them, as had their pets in their cages; the Belbys had said thank you and goodbye to the driver and were hurrying through Kings Cross to the barrier.

"Go at the same time, you two- we've only got ten minutes." Susanne said, gesturing towards the barrier as they reached it.

"Okay," Marcus nodded. Looking around them carefully, he and Rachel waited a moment, until there was a break in the swell of Muggles around them before hurrying straight at the seemingly solid brick wall- Rachel closed her eyes as they reached it despite knowing what was going to happen, waiting for the impact that she knew would never come-

The time in which she thought she would have hit the bricks if it were possible passed, and after a moment- and taking a few more steps just to make sure- Rachel opened her eyes, exhaling with slight relief as she saw she was standing on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. The platform was filled with students and their families exchanging goodbyes and greeting their friends. Owls screeched and hooted over the babble of conversation, toads croaked and cats mewed, pawing at the bars of their cages in their displeasure at being shut away, adding to the din, and standing alongside the platform, blowing smoke over everyone's heads, was a magnificent scarlet steam engine- the Hogwarts Express. Rachel felt a thrill of excitement run down her spine at the sight, but forced herself to stay beside Marcus and wait for their parents to come through the barrier. Her resolve was tested a mere moment later, when she caught sight of a girl who looked very like Millicent sitting in one of the compartments adjacent to the station.

"Quickly; quickly, put your things on the train- you've only got five minutes." Susanne said, sounding rather frazzled as she and Flavius came through the barrier. The Belbys hastened to move out of the way and half ran over to the train, Marcus in the lead, as a tall, thin red-haired boy Rachel recognised to be the Prefect Weasley boy came through the barrier, followed closely by the man Rachel remembered from Flourish and Blotts to be his father.

Reaching the train, Flavius and Marcus raced to lift Marcus and Rachel's trunks and their pets in their cages into the nearest carriage- one down from the one Rachel thought she had seen Millicent in. So short on time where they that Rachel and Marcus boarded the train, too, leaning out of the door to say goodbye to their parents; Marcus looking rather guarded as they were so near their fellow students and Rachel hanging back feeling rather nervous.

"Bye Mum; Dad," Marcus said, leaning quickly out of the train door to hug Suanne briefly.

"Have a good term," Susanne said, smiling.

"Concentrate on your studies." Flavius added, nodding and smiling too; clasping Marcus's hand, pulling him forwards into a hug before he could protest.

"I will; I promise," Marcus squirmed out of his father's embrace and stepped back, giving room for Rachel to reach their parents.

Almost instantly, Susanne and Flavius's smiles stiffened, and the atmosphere within the family shifted. Rachel swallowed, managing a smile back- albeit a tentative one.

"See you at Christmas," She said.

"Goodbye," Susanne replied. Her stiff smile replied in place as she spoke, but there was a distinctly curt edge to her tone and she did not move to hug her daughter.

"Goodbye," Flavius echoed, in the same curt tone as his wife. He, too, made no move to hug Rachel.

Rachel hesitated, a lump rising in her throat at her parents' coolness and the uncertainty she felt as she thought about whether or not she should try and hug either or both of her parents. But a moment later her parents took several steps to one side, moving away from the train as a group of fifth year students approached and boarded the train with their belongings.

Rachel ducked her head as she and Marcus moved out of the way of the fifth years, trying to gain a hold on her emotions as her throat positively burned and tears pricked at her eyes. When she looked up again a few moments later, Rachel noticed that her brother looked rather indignant. Indeed, the moment the fifth years had moved away to find a compartment, he moved forwards and leant out of the train door, frowning in the direction of their parents.

"Hey-"

But whatever he had planned on saying was cut short as the train's whistle pierced the air. Those students that were still on the platform hastened to board the train as the platform guards moved along the train, slamming the doors shut.

"Move back, please," one of the guards said to Marcus. Marcus had no choice but to obey and moments after the guard shut the train door; and a moment later, steam gushed up from the bottom of the train as it started to pull away from the platform. The last Rachel and Marcus saw of their parents was once the steam had cleared from the window of the train door and they glimpsed them Apparating away from the platform.

Marcus sighed, running his hand through his hair as he turned to face his sister. "I'm sorry, Rachel."

Rachel shook her head, pushing her glasses up her nose; forcing herself to keep hold of her emotions. "You haven't done anything."

"I know," Marcus nodded, "I'm sorry for them... you know?"

Rachel nodded, too, slowly; swallowing thickly as she felt the lump in her throat starting to burn again. Feeling rather desperate, she strained to think of something positive that would stop her from bawling. "But look on the bright side," she smiled as a thought occurred to her. We're going be away from t- from all of that until Christmas!"

"Yeah," Marcus nodded, grinning as he went on. "Well, I can't stand around talking to you all day- Oliver and I said we'd meet in this carriage and I have to defeat him at Gobstones."

Rachel laughed. "Okay," she said. "I think I know where Millicent is, so I'll see you at school."

"That reminds me- remember it's only the first years who take the boats," Marcus said, "so when we get to Hogsmede station you'll get to Hogwarts the same way you did after Christmas last year- the horseless carriages."

Rachel nodded. "I remember."

Marcus smiled. "See you later then," he said, taking hold of his trunk and Newt's cage and setting off down the carriage, glancing into compartments as he went.

Gathering up her own trunk and Artemisia in her cage, Rachel set off in the opposite direction, heading for the carriage she thought she had seen Millicent in, looking in the other compartments as she passed them in case she had been mistaken. But she hadn't been- when she reached the door of the compartment she thought she had seen Millicent in, she saw both Millicent and Pansy sitting inside, the latter with an open faced copy of _Witch Weekly_ in her lap.

"Hi," Rachel smiled, opening the compartment door and entering with her things, closing the door behind her.

"Hey," Pansy smiled back.

"Hi," Millicent smiled back, too. "How are you?"

"Looking forward to the new year," Rachel replied, lifting her trunk and Artemisia's cage onto the luggage racks and sitting down beside Millicent, opposite Pansy. "You?"

"Good- and me too," Millicent nodded.

"Same- and I'm so looking forward to Gilderoy Lockhart's lessons," Pansy said. "They're bound to be fascinating."

"Speaking of fascinating- anything interesting in there?" Rachel asked, nodding towards her copy of _Witch Weekly._

"Not yet," Pansy shook her head, "then again, I rarely look at the contents page; I like to be surprised."

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Millicent asked, pulling a new pack of cards from her pocket.

Pansy declined with a smile in favour of returning to her magazine; Rachel, however, agreed and she and Millicent struck up a highly competitive best-of-five match that soon proved to be very tense indeed as Millicent's pack of Exploding Snap cards were extremely temperamental, some reluctant to explode and others very eager.

"…Guys," Pansy spoke up, sounding rather strange as Millicent won the best of five match and reshuffled the cards.

"Did you find something interesting?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Something like that," Pansy replied in the same strange tone as before, turning the magazine towards her friends.

The right hand page was divided into two photographs. The left hand side of the page was devoted to a photo of a beautiful, tall dark-skinned woman with long back hair, and dark, almond shaped eyes with long lashes, who was smiling alluringly out of the page, blinking slowly and slowly tossing her long hair around her shoulders. The right hand side of the page was devoted to a picture of a handsome man with thick, curly brown hair and bright green eyes. He wore crisp red dress robes and posed as though he was to be featured in a newspaper. The page beside it was tilted with a big, bold headline. Rachel's eyes widened as she read:

 _ **Love, honour and obey… for as long as you shall live.**_

 _Is Giselle Zabini to be married for an eighth time?_

 _Socialite Giselle Zabini, 33, (pictured previous page, left) is reportedly a ten-month relationship with Bulgarian multi-millionaire Kostadin Nedelcho, 36, (pictured previous page, right) and a source close to the former Italian supermodel claims that she is now eager to tie the knot writes RITA SKEETER._

' _Giselle is madly infatuated with Kostadin,' the source said. 'She claims she has never felt this way about any other man.'_

 _An extraordinarily beautiful and captivatingly guileful witch, Zabini was born in London, her childhood was reportedly split between there and in Italy, and has been married seven times before, each time to incredibly wealthy wizards - most recently to former beater for the English National Quidditch team Troy McLachlan, between the years of 1988-1991. McLachlan passed away in January 1991, following stomach-related complications._

 _Zabini's other husbands have similarly met untimely deaths; leaving Zabini large amounts of gold in their wills, and though all seven deaths were treated by the Auror Department as suspicious, and rumours pertaining to Zabini's alleged first-hand involvement swell, the Auror Department constantly found evidence that served to eliminate her as a suspect; and furthermore, there has never been any conclusive evidence to bring charge against any person involved in any case._

 _It is unknown if Nedelcho is aware of his girlfriend's past; if he is he is evidently unconcerned, for he and Zabini have been seen together on multiple occasions, most recently last week in Italy, where they were said to be accompanied by Zabini's two children from her third, longest, marriage to the late Amato Zabini- Irma, 13, and Blaise, 12. The marriage lasted for three years, ending in December of 1980, after Amato Zabini passed away, following a severe allergic reaction. Those close to Nedelcho refused to comment when asked by your Witch Weekly reporter if they feared for his wellbeing._

"…Did you know?" Pansy asked, looking at her friends with wide eyes as they finished reading and looked up. "All that about Blaise's mother?"

"No," Millicent shook her head slowly, her brow creased.

Rachel shook her head slowly, too, trying to process everything she had just read. Her mind flashed back to the previous year as she did so, as she remembered what her mother had said about Giselle Zabini in Diagon Alley; on their way to The Leaky Cauldron-

"… _I don't know that much about the woman- only that she's Italian; very manipulative and shrewd in nature, and has two children- oh, and what they say in the papers, of course…"_

Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose. She had, she remembered, asked her mother what was said in the papers but her mother hadn't replied… it was, she thought, now very clear what was said… but her mother had made it sound as though what was said was printed in a newspaper, not in a girly magazine written by a reporter notorious for rumour mongering and being nasty about those she wrote about… Rachel had never known her mother to read _Witch Weekly_ ; indeed, it was difficult to imagine her mother reading it at all, never mind as religiously as she and her friends did- she had, in fact, reminded Rachel pointedly when the girl had used her birthday money when she was nine to pay for her first subscription, to take the articles with a pinch of salt, Rachel remembered; but it seemed her mother was not as above mindless gossip as she appeared…

But was this really mindless gossip? Rachel looked down at the article again, her brow furrowing. Rita Skeeter was notorious for rumour-mongering, yes, but she had mentioned that the Auror Department had been involved- which could be checked; possibly refuted, and surely Rita Skeeter would not risk her credibility by printing things that could be indisputably proven false as fact- and if the Auror Department had been involved, _and_ every single one of Giselle Zabini's husbands had died suspiciously, _and_ rumours surrounded Giselle Zabini after each murder and still did today…

The door to the compartment slid open suddenly, and the three girls jumped, looking around.

"...Hi," Theodore Nott smiled around slightly nervously from where he stood in the doorway; a packet of cakes with a Spanish label in his hand. Zabini stood beside him as usual, as expressionless as ever; and his haughty demeanour firmly in place. The gazes of both boys flickered over the faces of the three girls and in seconds, landed on the open pages of _Witch Weekly_ on which the pictures of Giselle Zabini and Kostadin Nedelcho, as well as Rita Skeeter's article were printed.

"Hi," Pansy smiled back slightly awkwardly, colour rising to her cheeks, quickly closing the magazine and stuffing it into the gap between herself and the wall of the train.

"I've, er, got some of those Spanish versions of Cauldron Cakes I told you about," Nott spoke quickly, holding up the covering whatever awkward silence might have fallen. "You said in your last letter you wanted to try them."

"I do, yeah- er, come in," Pansy said, glancing at Millicent and Rachel as she spoke. The two nodded; Rachel rather begrudgingly and sighing inwardly as she did so, for wherever Nott went Zabini followed.

Indeed, something that looked rather like pain flickered blatantly through Zabini's eyes as Nott entered the compartment and sat down beside Pansy, but after a moment he, too, entered the compartment and sat down beside Nott, opposite Millicent; his face twisting into a glare as he made eye contact with Rachel. Rachel glared back at him, her irritation at Zabini's presence spiking.

"Did you have a good summer?" Pansy asked the two boys.

Zabini shrugged in response, looking away from Rachel, his face falling back into its usual expressionless form.

"Yeah- Spain was really cool." Nott said, "How about you three?"

"Yeah it was great- France is beautiful," Pansy nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Rachel replied; there was no way she was going to tell the truth to Nott and Zabini.

"Mine, too," Millicent said cheerfully. "Want to play Exploding Snap?" she held up her pack of cards.

"Sure," Nott smiled.

"No," Zabini shook his head as Millicent looked towards him.

"Four it is," Millicent said, starting to reshuffle her cards.

The Hogwarts Express flew steadily through the countryside, so quickly that the trees and fields outside were a blur when looking out of the train window. Pansy, Millicent and Rachel passed the time playing card games with Nott and sharing the package of Spanish cauldron cakes at Pansy's request. Zabini refused Pansy's offer of a cauldron cake and sat in silence, looking at his feet. He seemed, Rachel thought, looking at him discreetly as Pansy and Nott battled out a particularly long game of Exploding Snap, rather sullen.

"What?" Zabini snapped harshly, glaring as he looked up suddenly and caught Rachel's eye. Rachel started inwardly and glared back at him, feeling a rush of defensiveness.

"Snap! HA!" Pansy cried triumphantly before Rachel could snap back at Zabini, stopping any argument before it started by winning the game; slamming her hand down on the deck of cards. Moment's later, however, she was forced to pull her hand back quickly as the deck of cards exploded.

"Wha- that's cheating!" Nott protested.

"No it's not," Pansy smirked at him, gathering up the cards as they repaired themselves. "you just lost."

"She's right," Millicent pointed an acknowledging finger at her friend.

Nott shrugged, grinning good-naturedly. "It was worth a try," he said, as a rattling nose suddenly echoed down the carriage.

"Is that the food trolley?" Millicent stood up and looked through the glass compartment door. "it is- thank Merlin; I'm dying for some pumpkin juice."

Nott elbowed Zabini, getting to his feet. "We'd better get back to our compartment; make sure it hasn't been taken over by first years; and get our own money," Nott said. "See you later," he smiled at Pansy, then at Millicent and Rachel, too, as Zabini got to his feet.

"See you." She replied, smiling back.

"Bye." Millicent and Rachel replied, smiling briefly, too, and rummaging through their trunks for their moneybags.

"Thank you for the cakes; they were delicious." Pansy called after Nott as the two boys left the compartment.

"You're welcome," Nott replied, turning and grinning briefly at her before hastening to catch up with Zabini as his friend kept walking.

"You alright mate?" Theo asked Blaise as they made their way back to their compartment, which was just after the entrance to in the next carriage down. "I know you don't like spending any more time around Rachel- Belby- than you have to, and I owe you one for coming with me-"

"Yes you do." Blaise muttered.

"- but you seemed a bit… extra annoyed." Theo continued as the boys reached and entered their compartment, which thankfully had not been overtaken by first years. "So are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Blaise replied sarcastically, flopping down and putting his feet up on the seat opposite him. "If enough people didn't know about my mother before, now a whole new load of people know- which is just wonderful; and I'm really looking forward to Belby throwing it in my face at some point."

"I don't think she would do that," Theo replied mildly, reaching up and fishing through his trunk for his moneybag, taking it from within. "I mean, I know she hates you and has a go at you pretty much whenever she can and everything, but I don't think she'd bring up your mother- that would be really low."

Blaise shrugged. "Nedelcho is a bloody idiot, anyway," he went on scornfully. "He's always raving on about how much he _loves_ my mother," he snorted contemptuously. "Love is stupid. Love and- and _feelings_ and relationships and all that slushy stuff- it makes people go all stupid; which makes them vulnerable- and yet, _somehow_ they're still surprised when they get hurt. Or- or worse... It's all stupid; and dangerous."

"…I guess; I dunno," Theo replied after a moment, shrugging, too. "Look, don't worry about that stupid article," he went on frankly. "Aunt Artemis read it this morning and she said about it was that your mother had grounds to sue, like Irma did on the platform earlier; and it was written by Rita Skeeter for Merlin's sake, and printed in _Witch Weekly_! It's not that credible, really."

"But it's true." Blaise pointed out. "The article, it's all true."

"…Well, yeah," Theo nodded. "But the general public don't know that."

Blaise smiled faintly and briefly, getting up and reaching for his trunk and his own moneybag as the sound of the trolley witch entering their carriage reached their ears. "Maybe you're right."

"I must be- you smiled." Theo smirked.

Blaise rolled his eyes, his usual expressionless mask falling over his face as he left the compartment, looking down the carriage for the trolley witch. Rolling his eyes at Blaise's custom, Theo followed.

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


	5. Chapter 5: A Better Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter.** **The _bold, italic, underline text_ are direct quotes from the _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ and the _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_ books respectively. **

**A/N: Gigantic thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouring and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

 **Twitter: Prof_McGonagal**

 **Chapter 5: A Better Life**

When night came and lamps in their compartment and the carriage outside it flickered into life, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent got to their feet, took their robes from their trunks and left their compartment for the bathrooms to change.

Rachel couldn't help but marvel at her uniform to herself as she finished tying her tie. So much had happened since this time last year- she never would have thought then, that today she would be tying a green and silver striped tie around her neck; and that she would be happy about it.

Taking her wand from the pocket of her jeans, Rachel slipped it into the pocket of her robes and set about folding her Muggle clothes into a neat pile. Picking up the pile, Rachel slipped it into her bag and hooking it over her left shoulder, Rachel left her cubicle and approached the sinks and mirror to fix her hair. Millicent was already standing at the sinks, looking at herself in the mirror as she tied her tie.

"Excuse me, please."

Rachel ceased to comb her hair briefly as she and Millicent moved to one side, making room as Hermione Granger entered the tiny bathroom and started to edge around them to get to the cubicle Rachel had just left, her own bag over her shoulder. She looked rather anxious and forlorn. But Rachel did not have time to dwell on Granger's apparent upset before Pansy emerged from a cubicle, running a tube of lip balm over her lips.

"I hope they have those pumpkin tart things at the feast tonight," she said, squinting at herself in the glass. "They had them at the end of last year- they looked really good but they were all gone before I could get to them."

"Pumpkin?" Millicent repeated, frowning. "They weren't pumpkin, they were custard."

"Really?" Pansy stared at her in surprise. "I could have sworn they were pumpkin…Rachel?" she turned to the girl.

Rachel shrugged, returning her comb to her bag. "I didn't even notice them."

"Are you sure they weren't pumpkin, Millicent?" Pansy asked, slipping her lip balm into the pocket of her robes.

"Positive," Millicent nodded amusedly.

"Huh," Pansy raised her eyebrows as the girls left the bathroom and made their way down the train towards their compartment. "Well, I'm still going to get a hold of some at dinner if they're there."

"Meoow!" the plaintive mews of Millicent's cat, Ryan, greeted the girls as they entered the compartment. His forehead was pressed against the bars of his cage, and he eyed all three girls with an air of great distain.

"Is he alright?" Rachel asked.

"I think he's just a bit restless," Millicent answered, "he's had full run of my house all summer and he's been shut up all day- and, honestly, Ryan is a bit of an attention seeker… it's alright," she murmured, slipping her finger through the bars on the front of Ryan's cage and stroking his nose. "It won't be long now we're nearly there… that's it, relax." She smiled as Ryan licked her finger and yawned, closing his eyes and settling down.

Not long after, the train started to slow down, and soon enough the train came to a stop at Hogsmeade station to the accompaniment of chatter and the screeched, news and croaks of various pets. Having made sure that their trunks were securely locked and their pets were safely in their cages, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent left their compartment and joined the crowd of students filling the corridor of the carriage in disembarking the train onto the platform, carrying their pets in their cages.

 _ **"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"**_

Hagrid's booming call echoed around the small platform as his great shadow approached the students, the lamp in his hand preceding him as it had the previous year. A number of nervous looking eleven-year olds separated themselves from the crowd of students on the platform and shuffled towards him; watching them, Rachel couldn't help but think back to the previous year, walking over to Hagrid with her old friends, Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin.

"Merlin, that's making me remember how nervous I was last year," Millicent said, leading the way in following the rest of the school from the platform and out onto the rough dirt track that lead to the carriages that would take them up to the castle.

"Me too." Rachel agreed. "And Marcus and Oliver tried to convince me that the Sorting Ceremony involved fighting a Sphinx."

Pansy laughed. "Sebastian tried to tell us that we had to fight a giant spider that lives in the forbidden forest. We didn't believe him but it was still a relief to find out the Sorting was the Sorting Hat." She said as they reached the lines of hundreds of stagecoaches.

"I know the feeling." Rachel nodded, closing the door behind them as the three girls climbed into an empty, slightly mould-and-straw smelling carriage. As the carriage creaked into life and started to bump and sway its way in the direction of the castle, Rachel could not stop herself from thinking back to this time last year, when she was still friends with Terry and Lisa. Back then, she would never have thought of herself starting her second year as she was, no longer friends with Terry and Lisa at all, sharing a carriage with two Slytherins who were her friends and closest confidants outside Marcus; and dress proudly in Slytherin robes, a Slytherin herself. Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose and glanced surreptitiously at Pansy and Millicent as the carriage passed through the pair of superb twisted iron gates bookended by stone columns crowned with winged boars that served as the entrance to the castle grounds, and felt a surge of happiness and contentment. She may have lost Terry and Lisa's friendship, but now she had friends who had stuck by her during her most difficult times, who liked her for who she was and trusted her, as she did them.

The carriage increased its pace as it made it's away up the long, sloping driveway that lead up to the school. Hogwarts Castle towered over the coaches, its many windows glittering welcomingly as the coaches swept around the top of the driveway and swayed to a halt. Leaving their pets in the carriage to be taken care of by the house elves, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent clambered out of their coach and joined the other student in making their way up the stone steps, through the great front doors and into the the cavernous, echoing Entrance Hall, which was illuminated as ever by flame filled torches. The large crowd of students made their way across the Entrance Hall, peeling away to sit at their respective House tables as they entered the Great Hall.

"Oh my Merlin look!" Pansy exclaimed, freezing in the doorway and grabbing hold of Millicent and Rachel's arms. "It's Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Following her gaze, Rachel and Millicent looked up at the staff table. Indeed, at the far end, sticking out rather jarringly in robes made of some aquamarine coloured material, sat Gilderoy Lockhart himself. His wavy blond hair seemed to almost glow in the light of the candles illuminating the Great Hall, and he looked to be having a conversation with Professor Flitwick, though Flitwick did not look very happy about it.

"I can't believe he's really here; and he's going to be teaching us!" Pansy gushed as she, Millicent and Rachel continued over to the Slytherin table. "It almost feels too good to be true- it would, but it is true!"

She was not the only one who was excited. Several students were gesturing towards the staff table as they entered the hall, nudging and whispering to their friends and many continued to gawk openly at Lockhart as they sat down at their house table.

"Let's hope he's a good teacher," Millicent said as she, Pansy and Rachel found seats halfway down the Slytherin table.

"He has to be- he's written almost the entire booklist," Rachel said as they sat down.

No sooner had they done so, however, then Pansy's cousin Sebastian descended upon them, sitting down beside Millicent.

"What do you think, then?" he asked, his quick gaze flickering interestedly between all three girls.

"About what?" Pansy asked.

Sebastian's gaze paused on her, his brow creasing. "The car!" he said, as though it was obvious.

Pansy frowned back at him confusedly. "What car?"

"Seriously?" Sebastian looked at Millicent and Rachel, his brow creasing further as he saw they looked as confused as Pansy. "It was all over at least half the train and its probably all over the school by now- haven't you seen the Evening Prophet?"

"No," the three girls shook their heads. Shaking his head, too- but in evident amazement- Sebastian reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a tightly folded copy of the _Evening Prophet._

"Look," he said, unfolding the newspaper and laying it down on the table in front of them, pointing to the headline.

 _ **FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES**_

Sebastian gestured to the article, running his finger along the lines as he read aloud, "' _ **Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower… at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing… Mr. Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police**_ …' about seven Muggles, all convinced they saw the same thing- too many to be a coincidence, don't you think?" he arched an eyebrow, looking around at the girls.

"I guess," Pansy nodded, shrugging. "So what?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes. _"So,"_ he said, "The Weasley twins- you know, from Gryffindor- were in the compartment opposite mine, and their friend, Lee Jordan- the Quidditch commentator- and a couple of other people from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in their compartment got their copy just after I did, when the lights turned on, and I am a rather a good lip reader. It turns out that the Weasley family owns a flying Ford Anglia _and_ the Weasley twins went up and down the train _and_ they couldn't find Ron Weasley or Harry Potter who was staying with them and travelled to the station with them, _and_ as you can see, they're not here." He gestured towards the Gryffindor table; and following his gesture, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent scanned the Gryffindor table and saw that he was quite right- while Hermione Granger sat beside Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were nowhere to be seen. Granger, Rachel noticed, now looked more anxious than upset. Her apparent upset on the train, too, now made sense- if Potter and Weasley really hadn't been on the train, then Granger wouldn't've been able to sit with them. Whether she had other friends in Gryffindor or the other houses, Rachel didn't know, but Granger was certainly close to Potter and Weasley, so it would make sense that she would be forlorn or worried or anxious, or all three, if she couldn't find them on the school train or in the Great Hall.

"So- you think they're the ones in the flying car?" Millicent asked as the girls turned back to Sebastian. "Potter and Weasley?"

Sebastian nodded. "That's what people are saying."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Draco Malfoy's voice sounded scornfully from behind Rachel suddenly, and turning her head, she saw him drop down into the empty beside her; leaning forwards to address the group. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle sat down beside him, listening. "Potter's such an attention seeking show off, I bet he thinks he's too good to travel on the train."

Rachel frowned faintly. Potter may have gotten himself into a lot of trouble and danger by all accounts last year, but in all honestly, she doubted Draco's words, and her first impression of Potter remained; that he didn't seem as self-assured as she thought he'd be. "You know; he doesn't really strike me as an attention seeking show off." She said.

"Nor me," Pansy agreed, nodding.

"Really?" Draco raised his eyebrows at them both. "Then what would you call all that stuff that Potter did at the end of last year, if it wasn't attention seeking?"

"Saving the wizarding world from a lunatic who was trying to bring back the Dark Lord?" Nott replied bluntly, raising an eyebrow back at Draco as he sat down on the other side to Pansy to Rachel; Zabini beside him as always.

Draco scowled heavily at Nott. "What, are you the chairman of Potter's fan club now or something?"

"I neither like or dislike Potter," Nott replied calmly. "But the fact remains that what Potter did last year wasn't attention seeking- it was stopping Quirrell from bringing back the Dark Lord."

"Yeah?" Draco retorted, "Then if Potter knew that Quirrell was going to try and bring the Dark Lord back, why didn't he go to a Professor? Why did he go after Quirrell himself? Because he didn't want his being the Boy-Who-Lived to be forgotten, because he's an attention seeking show off." He folded his arms, smirking smugly.

Nott stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

 _ **CRUNCH!**_

A strange noise, like a great load of metal hitting thick, heavy wood echoed into the Great Hall suddenly; loud enough that it made heads turn the the direction of the large window behind the staff table, but faint enough that it was clear that it was coming from outside, somewhere in the grounds.

"What was that?" Millicent asked as murmurs broke out across the Great Hall.

"Sounded like a car crashing into a tree," Nott replied, "I saw a car cash into a tree in Muggle Spain, no one was hurt but it sounded like that, I remember."

"Must've been a pretty big tree," Pansy said.

"Maybe it was the Whomping Willow," Nott suggested, "You know that massive tree in the grounds?"

"Never seen it, but yeah," Pansy nodded.

"It's the only tree big enough to make a noise that audible, I reckon." Nott concluded.

"Snape's going to investigate, by the looks of things," Sebastian said, nodding towards the staff table. Turning their heads, the second years saw that he was right- Professor Snape was sweeping around the side of the staff table and starting to cross the Great Hall. Rachel's gaze passed him to run the length of the staff table, passing Professors Sprout and Flitwick, then a few teachers she had never met, then Professor McGonagall's empty seat, Professor Dumbledore, then Gilderoy Lockhart, then Hagrid, the game keeper.

"He doesn't look happy," Nott remarked, watching Snape. Rachel turned, joining the others in doing the same.

"It's Snape." Pansy pointed out as Snape moved across the Great Hall and out of the double doors at its end in a matter of moments, his long black robes billowing out behind him and his eyes glittering malevolently.

"I hope he finds Potter," Draco said, a grin unfurling across his face.

"That's if the Whomping Willow doesn't get Potter first." Sebastian said.

"All the better if you ask me," Draco's grin widened.

"Did I, though?" Sebastian inquired quietly, adjusting the fork in front of him so it was closer to his plate.

Millicent snickered. Draco looked indignantly at Vincent and Gregory but when both of them looked back at him confusedly, he turned back to Sebastian, his eyes narrowed. Before he could speak, however, the door to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall entered, carrying the patched, aged Sorting Hat and the sorting stool; and followed by a crowd of incredibly nervous-looking first years.

Rachel turned around in her seat to watch McGonagall lead the first years to the front of the Hall. But as McGonagall set down the Sorting Stool in front of the staff table, and the Sorting Hat on top of it, Rachel caught sight of a flash of red out of the window, to the right of the headmaster. The Sorting Hat started to sing at that moment, but Rachel didn't pay attention to the song. Instead, she leant back in her seat to get a better look out of the window, a theory rapidly unfolding in her mind. Moment's later, her theory was confirmed- Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were outside, looking into the Great Hall through the window.

"…Hey," she whispered slowly, nudging Pansy. "I think Potter and Weasley are outside, looking through the window."

"What?" Pansy sat up straighter, her gaze flicking towards the window, too.

"Look to the right of Professor Dumbledore," Rachel whispered.

"…Oh Merlin they are, too," Pansy's eyes widened. "Potter and Weasley are outside, look to the right of Dumbledore." she murmured, nudging Nott beside her.

"… I see them." He muttered back after a moment, nodding. "Look over there." He muttered, elbowing Zabini and nodding towards the window.

"What?" Millicent whispered from across the table; Sebastian turned his head, too, listening.

"Look out of the window, to the right of Dumbledore." Rachel whispered, joining in with the applause that echoed around the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat finished singing.

Millicent and Sebastian looked towards the window; but they were not the only ones. Draco's head turned, too; clearly he had heard Rachel's whisper.

"Is that… Potter and Weasley?" he asked as the applause faded away, a small smile twisting his face.

"Looks like it." Rachel nodded.

"Creevey, Colin!"

Professor McGonagall's call echoed around the Great Hall, attracting the attention of the Slytherins to the Sorting. A very small boy with mousy hair emerged from the crowd of first years, approached the Sorting stool, sat down and put the Sorting hat on his head; his face as white as a sheet and trembling from head to foot all the while. A moment passed in silence as the whole school watched, then the gash close to the brim of the hat that was its mouth opened wide-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors cheered and clapped as Colin Creevey got to his feet, replaced the hat on the stool and hurried over to the Gryffindor table, collapsing into an empty seat and smiling around as his housemates.

"Digby, Isabella!" Professor McGonagall called; a tall, pale girl with long blonde hair approached the Sorting stool and sat down.

HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table burst into applause, cheering as Isabella Digby approached them and sat down.

"Diggle, Lillian!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Easton, Elouise!"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Fawcett, Howard!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Fulton, Ella!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Fulton, Gabriel!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Fulton, Luke!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Potter and Weasley aren't at the window anymore!" Draco hissed suddenly.

Joining in the applause as three small, dark first years with identical noses and the same mischievous looking hazel eyes sat down together at the Slytherin table, Rachel turned her head towards the window and saw that he was quite right: Potter and Weasley were nowhere to be seen; nor, she saw, looking towards the Gryffindor table, had they snuck in and sat down.

"Bet you they've been caught!" Draco grinned triumphantly. Rachel shrugged non-committedly, returning her attention to the Sorting up at the staff table.

"Garrick, Emma!"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Gladstone, Ryan!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Graeme, Rose!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Harper, Hamish!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Hayes, Alexander!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Hayhurst, Samuel!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Lovegood, Luna!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Merlin I wish she'd hurry up," Nott's mutter sounded from down the table as a small girl with long dirty blonde hair and protuberant silvery eyes sat down at the Ravenclaw table. "I'm starving… Blaise have you got any food in your pockets? ...Blaise? Oi, Blaise!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw him elbow Zabini, who was staring expressionlessly at the goblet in front of him. Zabini started slightly as Nott's elbow dug into his side, and looked around at his friend.

"What?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Nott didn't appear to care. "Have you got any food on you?"

"No," Zabini shook his head.

"Not even _one_ Pumpkin Pasty?" Nott sounded disbelieving.

Zabini rolled his eyes. "No, and if I did I would keep it- you know I need them," he replied. "Anyway there's only a couple of first years left… look they're sorting the last one now."

"Weasley, Ginerva!"

Rachel turned her attention back to the Sorting, watching as a small girl with flaming red hair approached the sorting stool and sat down, putting on the Hat as she did so. She was, Rachel realised, recognising her by name and face- before the hat fell over it, Ron Weasley's little sister, who's second-hand Transfiguration textbook had been mocked by Lucius Malfoy in Flourish and Blotts.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table burst into applause. Ginerva Weasley, pink in the face but grinning from ear to ear, got to her feet, took off the Sorting hat, placed it back on the stool and hurried over to the Gryffindor table, collapsing into the first available seat.

As the applause died down and Professor McGonagall rolled up the Sorting Scroll, picked up the Hat and stool and carried all three from the Hall, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and beamed around the Hall and beamed around.

"Welcome- welcome back students and staff old and new!" "I only have a few announcements to make this evening, but I'm sure you are far too hungry to pay much attention to anything, so I will wait until after the feast."

"Thank Merlin for that!" Nott sighed, reaching for a plate of friend chicken wings as food appeared all along the five long tables in the Hall.

Up at the staff table, however, Professor Dumbledore did not sit down. Instead, he walked around his chair and along the back of the staff table, and around its side to the rest of the hall.

"Where's he going?" Millicent asked, watching as Professor Dumbledore swept down alongside the far side of the Great Hall and out the doors to the Entrance Hall. She was not the only one looking; the eyes of at least half the school had followed the headmaster from the Hall; some, Rachel and Draco Malfoy amongst them, even turning in their seats to watch.

"Isn't it obvious?" Draco asked as the doors to the Great Hall closed behind the headmaster and the talk of students filled the room as they swung back around in their seats. "He's going to expel Potter and Weasley for being seen by all those Muggles!"

"You really think they'll be expelled?" Pansy raised an eyebrow.

"Well… in being seen by all those Muggles in a flying car, they did break the law," Rachel pointed out, reaching for a nearby dish of steak and kidney pudding. "Not just any law, either- the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which is arguably the most important law there is; it keeps us all safe."

"Exactly," Draco nodded, filling his goblet with pumpkin juice, "And Potter and Weasley broke it: they have to be punished and being expelled seems like the right punishment to me."

"Of course it does- you hate Potter." Sebastian pointed out, carefully ladling stew onto his plate.

"Yeah but he broke the law," Draco retorted, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Sebastian. "But why are you sitting with us second years- don't you have any friends in third year?"

"I do," Sebastian replied coolly. "But I wanted to speak to my cousin and- and I didn't realise I had to run that by you."

Such was the coolness of the icy look Sebastian gave him that Draco paled slightly a turned once again to Vincent and Gregory. This time they both leaned forwards, cracking their knuckles and glaring threateningly at Sebastian, but the second they leaned forwards Sebastian's icy look transformed into a brilliant beam and he waved at the two.

With the exception of Draco, everyone around them snickered.

Vincent and Gregory blinked, evidently confused, and Sebastian returned to his food, smirking.

"Idiots." Rachel heard Draco mutter furiously under his breath, casting a furious look at Crabbe and Goyle as conversation levels bubbled up around the Great Hall around them; though around the hall, several necks kept craning, and heads kept turning in the direction of where Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting at the staff table, cutting up a slice of roast lamb.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to see you this summer," Sebastian was say to Millicent as they ate. "My mother's sister came to stay and she's very…. monopolising. I wanted to get to Pansy's when you were there and show you those figurines I mentioned in my letter but I never got the chance."

"Don't worry about it; I understand," Millicent said with a small smile. "… I was kind of hoping to see them, though; especially the Moran one… do you have any photos?"

"No, but I did bring them with me," Sebastian smiled back. "I can show you them after dinner of you want?"

Millicent's smile widened. "Yeah, that would be great."

"Remind me- why does the king only move one square at a time?" Pansy was asking Nott, her brow furrowed, "if it's the most powerful piece on the board, that's ridiculous; it should be able to do everything."

"I think the King is the most powerful piece because it means the difference between winning and losing," Nott replied. "But really, it's the queen- that's the piece than can do everything, and if you can take away someone's queen it can really affect your opponent's game."

"…It's the fastest broom money can buy," Draco was saying smugly to Vincent and Gregory in between mouthfuls of Shepard's Pie, his anger apparently set aside in favour of arrogance. "There's no way Flint is going to turn down having seven on the team…"

When all plates being eaten off had been cleared, the food lining the centre of the tables vanished, replaced instantaneously by a great range of desserts; everything from apple pies to small pots of Crème Brule.

"Ooh!" Pansy exclaimed, pulling a dish of small tarts towards her and taking a couple. "I was hoping these would be here."

"Pumpkin or custard?" Millicent smirked as Pansy took a spoonful of tart.

Pansy smiled, rolling her eyes. "Custard."

As she spoke, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor Dumbledore re-entered the Hall, looking quite content. Professor Snape followed, looking particularly sour.

"If they have tracked down Potter and Weasley, I don't think they've been expelled," Rachel said.

"What makes you think that?" Pansy asked, frowning.

"Look at Snape's face," Rachel said, swallowing a spoonful of apple pie and guesting with her spoon towards the Professor. "He looks exceptionally miserable- and I don't think he'd look like that if Potter got expelled. He hates Potter; you saw how he treated him in Potions last year."

"True," Pansy nodded, "But even if Potter and Weasley didn't get expelled they must have been given some kind of punishment."

"What are you talking about?" Draco interposed contemptuously. "Everyone might think Potter's the most wonderful person to ever exist but he and Weasley- they broke the law. They have to be expelled, anyone else would be."

"Then why is Snape looking so miserable?" Rachel asked.

"He's missed the majority of dinner." Draco pointed out.

Rachel had to admit he had a point. As she did so, the doors to the Great Hall opened again and Professor McGonagall re-entered the Hall, without the Sorting Hat and stool.

"Either she got lost putting the hat and stool away or she's been seeing Potter and Weasley out of the school grounds." Draco said with a grin. Unsure whether or not she agreed, Rachel shrugged none committedly and went back to her apple pie.

When all the plates around the hall had been cleared, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and the level of conversation around the Hall ceased as once again he smiled around the Hall. "I have only a few so I only require your attention for a short while. Firstly, I am very pleased to welcome acclaimed author Gilderoy Lockhart back to Hogwarts as a member of staff. Professor Lockhart will be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; and I'm sure you all join me in wishing him the best of luck."

As applause and even some cheering echoed through the Great Hall, Lockhart got to his feet, and waved flamboyantly around the Hall, tossing his hair from his eyes and grinning widely. Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw Zabini, who neither cheering nor applauding, lean forwards and say something quietly to Nott, who nodded, an amused grin unfurling across his face.

Smiling, Dumbledore waited for the noise to die down and Lockhart to before continuing. "Secondly, Quidditch trials will, as always, take place be during the second week of the term; and those who have an interest in playing for their house should speak with Madam Hooch. Thirdly and very importantly, first years, and all other students for that matter, should note that the Forbidden Forrest in the grounds remains very strictly out of bounds."

Loud groans echoed around the Hall, from where the Weasley twins were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore chuckled.

"And on that note," he said, "I think it is time for you all to go to bed, so you can be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Good evening."

Chatter, the thud of footsteps and calls for the first years from the prefects filled the Hall once again as the students got to their feet and swarmed towards the doors to the Entrance Hall.

"The password's Salazar- pass it on; you three as well," Gemma Farley was saying quietly to a fourth year, and to Rachel, Pansy and Millicent as they edged past her and the cluster of first years gathered around her.

Nodding back, the three girls joined the swirling, jostling crowd fighting to get through the doors, emerged through the other side and crossed the Entrance Hall to the stone steps that led down to the dungeons.

Rachel shivered slightly, pulling her robe tighter around her as the temperature around them dropped the further they moved from ground level. The dungeons were dimly lit and the footsteps of the three girls echoed all around them as they made their way through the dungeon courtesy of the hard, stone floor.

"Merlin I can't wait to get to the dormitory," Pansy murmured, curling her fingers around the sleeves of her robes. "The heater will be on, won't it?"

"Hopefully," Millicent nodded vehemently as the girls turned into the corridor that held the entrance to the common room. Heads turned as they made their way down the corridor- a group of third years stood in front of where the door to the common room would appear, including, at the front of the group, Zabini's older sister; Irma.

"Hey, you three- have you got the password?" Irma asked as the girls approached.

"Yeah," Pansy nodded, flicking her hair from her eyes, "Salazar."

Irma smiled as the entrance to the common room appeared. "Thanks," she said. Her friends nodded and smiled, too; following Irma into the common room. Rachel, Pansy and Millicent followed.

Looking around, Rachel suddenly felt rather as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Admittedly, the Slytherin common room, as well as the walk through the dungeons to get to it, was a stark contrast to what she had imagined for herself this time the previous year, but the sight of the common room was, too, familiar and strangely comforting. The rough stone walls were bathed in a greenish light from the lamps hanging from chains from the ceiling; the tables, chairs, sofas, bookshelves and high- backed armchairs filled the room exactly as they had the previous year; and the large portrait of Merlin still hung on the wall opposite the roaring fireplace; Merlin himself looked as though he was asleep under a black satin eye mask. Not even the nerve-racking sight of the water of the Black Lake sloshing against the large, floor to ceiling windows took much away from the weight Rachel felt had lifted, for here, she could be herself and be accepted.

Irma and her friends headed over to the high-backed seats surrounding the fireplace and, stifling yawns, Pansy, Rachel and Millicent crossed the common room, passed through the door to the girls' dormitories and headed down the spiral staircase towards their old dormitory. The sign on the door now read 'second years.'

"Home sweet home," Pansy said with a smile, pushing open the door to their dormitory.

As they entered the room, the three girls were greeted by a welcome wave of warmth curtesy of the round heater in the middle of the room. The bathroom door faced the girls, and the five four poster beds with their green hangings were were evenly spaced around the room, bookended by large, floor to ceiling windows showing the lake outside and by black, cabinet style bedside tables. Daphne, Millicent, Pansy, Rachel and Tracey's trunks and pet cages stood at the end of the same beds as they had the previous year, marking them as assigned to the respective girl.

"Meow," Ryan jumped off Millicent's bed, running over to her as the girl's entered the room.

"Hello," Millicent cooed, bending and scooping the cat into her arms. "Are you feeling better now you don't have to be in your cage for a while… and your hair is all over me?"

Ryan mewed softly, pushing his head into Millicent's arm as the door to their dormitory opened and its other two occupants, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis entered.

"Hello girls," Daphne smiled around.

"Hi," Pansy replied, smiling back. "Did you have a good summer?"

"Yeah, it was nice," Daphne nodded. "You?"

Rachel busied herself with storing Artemisia's empty cage under her bed as talk of the holidays rang around the dormitory. Her own summer had been far from fun, and she had no desire to talk about her family with Daphne and Tracey present- the smaller the amount of people who knew about her home life and family, the better- and she had said all she wanted to about it to Pansy and Millicent during the summer.

"How about you, Rachel?" Tracey asked, turning to her after she, Pansy, Daphne and Millicent had told tale of their summer holidays. "How was your summer?"

Rachel endeavoured to make her tone light and carefree. "Yeah, it was pretty good, thanks," she replied with a smile, casting around her mind for a change of subject. "What about Gilderoy Lockhart, then- can you believe he's the new DADA professor?"

"I know- it's so exciting!" Daphne grinned.

"It's all a bit fishy if you ask me," Tracey said, sitting down her bed, reaching out and scratching Glover behind the ears as her cat ran down her bed towards her. "I mean, why would a famous celebrity author with loads of money suddenly turn around and want to teach?"

"Oh, come on, Tracey," Daphne rolled her eyes; clearly Tracey had expressed her doubts to her before. "…Maybe he's always wanted to teach and now he's taking the opportunity?"

Tracey raised her eyebrows sceptically. "If he's always wanted to teach, why not become a teacher?"

Daphne paused, clearly thinking, "… I don't know," she answered, "But he has to be good or Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him!"

Tracey hesitated, thinking, too. "…Okay," she said after a moment, raising her hands in surrender. "But if Lockhart teaches us how to ward off vampires with hair potion: I told you something strange is going on."

The image of a vampire cowering as Lockhart brandished a vial of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion was so comical that even Daphne laughed.

"If that happens, I agree with you." She grinned, opening her trunk and lifting her beautiful owl shaped alarm clock from within as the other girls started to unpack and organise their things, too; personalising the space around their beds.

Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose, knelt down beside her trunk and opened it. From within, she took a poster of the Weird sisters she had torn from a copy of witch weekly, and with the aid of some Spello-tape, started to stick it carefully to the wall beside her bed, smiling faintly as she did so. Her life at Hogwarts wasn't what she had expected of it the previous year- it was better; and it was good to be back.

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


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